public policy and education fund

Public Policy & Education Fund Activities and Accomplishments

The Public Policy and Education Fund of New York (PPEF) is the not-for-profit research and public education affiliate of Citizen Action of New York.

Statewide, PPEF's policy work has contributed significantly to:

Expanding coverage for over 350,000 members of low-income working families through Family Health Plus;
Expanding coverage for low-income families in New York under Medicaid;
Establishment and expansion of the Child Health Plus program that provides primary and preventive health insurance to more than half a million New York children;
Establishment of the New York State Patients' Bill of Rights, and expansion of the Bill to include an independent review when a consumer disagrees with their HMO;
Winning an additional $25 million in state and $10 million funding for after-school programs in New York City;
Educating voters throughout New York concerning the referendum on whether to hold a State Constitutional Convention;
Restoration of hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to state education funding;
Organizing after-school days to bring together thousands of parents and providers and rally support for after-school;
Creation of the Coalition for After School Funding, organizing 335 groups working together for greater investment in after-school programs;
Formation of the Alliance for Quality Education, a new statewide effort to win a major new investment in quality public education in New York.

At a local and regional level, PPEF has:

Educated families in low-income communities in Buffalo and Binghamton about the dangers of lead poisoning to children;
Won the clean-up of toxic pollution sites in Buffalo, Long Island, and Westchester;
Provided the research and public education that laid the groundwork for passage by the Buffalo Common Council of a living wage law.
Conducted voter registration campaigns in low-income communities throughout New York; and
Assisted Broome County residents in promoting economic development that is responsive to community needs;
Stopped Teacher Lay-Offs in Buffalo with a 1,500 person rally and other grassroots activities that led to $6 million being restored to the Buffalo school system;
Won better school buildings in Albany through a voter referendum on bond issue to provide $175 million in school construction for desperately needed modernization and new school construction in Albany.

PPEF's current activities include:

Public education and organizing on expanding access to quality health care for low and moderate income adults in working families;
Consumer education around managed care, including New York's new external appeal law. PPEF publishes the "Managed Care Consumers' Bill of Rights: A Health Policy Guide for Consumer Advocates and the Consumers' Guide to New York's Managed Care Bill of Rights";
Monitoring and issuing reports on the widespread lack of compliance among New York State HMOs with the state Consumer Bill of Rights law;
Research and public education on the influence of special interest contributions on decisions made by the New York State Legislature, in support of Clean Money, Clean Elections campaign finance reform;
Community organizing in Binghamton, Buffalo and Albany on promoting the availability of family-supporting jobs to low-income residents;
Documenting the State's failure to equitably fund education and reform New York State's outmoded school aid funding system;
Expanding after-school programs for every K-12 school child in NY.