JEVS Human Services New Podcast Poses The Question: Should The "Heroes Who Work Here" Be Paid Only $12.50 Per Hour?

PHILADELPHIA, June 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- JEVS Human Services, one of the largest social service agencies in the region offering skills training and career enhancement opportunities, recently launched Where Policy Meets People (WPMP), a podcast investigating ways their mission intersects with policies that shape the community and economy, the people solving the challenges identified by those policies, and the influence on people on the ground. Hosted by Kristen Rantanen, Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs, WPMP is dedicated to getting to the heart of policy issues that matter most to the people, businesses and policy makers in our region—and the issues where the greatest impact on our community's health and prosperity can be realized. 

Promising to tackle some of the most challenging and often avoided policy issues, after a soft proof-of-concept launch earlier this spring, WPMP hit the ground running—demonstrating its bold mission and candid approach with its third podcast, "Are Heroes Worth More Than $12.50 an Hour?" focused on championing opportunities for Direct Support Professionals (DSP). During this podcast, Joseph MacBeth, National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals (DSP) and Pennsylvania State Representative Stephen Kinsey question the integrity of policy that supports an abysmal pay scale and limited career ladders that currently has more that 50% of DSPs in the U.S. relying on some type of public assistance.

"These essentials workers are on the job every day helping our neighbors with complex medical histories and significant challenges not only navigate in our community, but be valued contributors to it," said Rantanen. "They are true heroes who rise to the occasion, including risking their personal health to stay on the job during the pandemic, every day yet struggle to make ends meet.  This is exactly the type of eye-opening issue WPMP sets out to bring to the forefront so that every member of our community can understand and do their part to help bring about critical change."

The DSP podcast—which also discusses ways the pandemic heightened the issue and includes insights from a JEVS career professional in the field—as well as the first two WPMP episodes are available at https://www.jevshumanservices.org/category/podcast/ and on podcast platforms.

SOURCE JEVS Human Services