Title
Honoring State Representative Dwight Evans on his years of service as the Democratic Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the PA House of Representatives.
Body
WHEREAS, In 1980, Dwight Evans was elected by the constituents of the 203rd legislative district as their State Representative in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and, in 1990, he was elected by his fellow members of the General Assembly as the Democratic Chairman of the Appropriations Committee; and
WHEREAS, For the past 20 years, Representative Evans has diligently served the constituents of the Greater Philadelphia region through his stewardship of the House Appropriations Committee and through his leadership and expertise in working with various Governors and legislators in passing annual budgets for the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, Through the expertise and leadership of Representative Evans, the Greater Philadelphia region has benefited in numerous ways including:
Economic Development (Dwight championed the development of the Pennsylvania Convention Center which has created 50,000 hospitality jobs and generates an annual economic impact of $3 billion for Philadelphia and $8 billion for the region; he is also responsible for the Convention Center's expansion which will create 2,000 more hospitality jobs providing an additional $150 million in economic impact and more than 280,000 room nights providing an additional $140 million in economic impact; Dwight created the Fresh Food Financing Initiative which has provided $120 million for 88 fresh-food retail projects in 34 Pennsylvania counties that has created or preserved more than 5,000 jobs, and his Initiative has become a nation model which is being studied by the Institute of Medicine and the National Institute of Health; and, was recognized by Harvard as one of the nation's most innovative government programs; and, was turned into a national program recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama; and, was used by President Obama to support $400 million in investments for supermarkets, farmers' markets, and other food stores in the federal budget);
Education (Dwight championed bi-partisan legislation that enabled
Pennsylvania to become the first state to pass an educational improvement tax credit which provided more than $52 million in scholarships (including $8 million for a pre-kindergarten scholarship program) and more than $22 million for innovative educational improvement programs for public schools; he authored the state's charter school law which has allowed more than 30,000 of Philadelphia's school children to attend charter schools; Dwight led the Philadelphia school reform effort which developed better educational standards and higher standards of achievement in the Philadelphia School District (“School District”), and he delivered a $1.7 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the School District's Parent Volunteer Program);
Jobs (Dwight delivered $1.2 million in supplemental funding to the Public Utility Commission to hire employees with disabilities from the Pennsylvania Industries for the Blind and Handicapped; he introduced $1.3 billion in transportation funding to ensure that Pennsylvanians can travel to their job sites, and Dwight led an effort to increase Philadelphia and minority job opportunities in the construction industry); and
Arts, Recreation, and Community (Dwight initiated the Philadelphia model of the National Night Out campaign, which was created to raise awareness about the importance of community involvement and neighbor to neighbor civic engagement and he provided funding for numerous local and regional organizations including Smith Playground, Avenue of the Arts, Philadelphia Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra, Asian Arts Institute, etc.); now, therefore, be it,
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor State Representative Dwight Evans on his years of service as the Democratic Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the PA House of Representatives.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Representative Evans as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
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