Community Development Champion: Senator Vincent Hughes

Senator Vincent Hughes has served the commonwealth as a member of the Pennsylvania Senate for more than 20 years. As a key member of the Senate’s Democratic leadership team, Senator Hughes is a champion for major policy issues such as expanding healthcare for low-income workers, raising the minimum wage, defending the right to vote, fighting for increased funding for public education, and rebuilding the state’s distressed communities. As Democratic Chairman of Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Hughes holds a major role in developing Pennsylvania’s annual budget of nearly $34 billion, carefully guiding the state’s spending priorities.

Senator Hughes proposed a Housing Investment Plan to put $2.27 billion into affordable housing, an unprecedented investment that would fund construction of thousands of new housing units across Pennsylvania, over the next five years. He also played a leadership role in advocating for a significant expansion of resources for affordable housing in the state budget for FY23.

In the fight for the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Pennsylvania, Sen. Hughes took a leadership role to help the Pennsylvanians who may not have had health care otherwise. The centerpiece and final part of this struggle was the successful implementation of Medicaid expansion, which currently provides health insurance to more than 1.1 million low-income working people who previously could not afford coverage.

Senator Hughes’ continues to push for a legislative and pragmatic response to reforming Pennsylvania’s criminal justice system. In a successful, bipartisan effort, he led the establishment of the First Chance Fund, which drives budgetary support for the children of incarcerated prisoners. Children who have incarcerated parents are 70 percent more likely to end up incarcerated, unless reached by intervention programs at an early age. Hughes is committed to break that cycle.

Once again working in bipartisan fashion, Senator Hughes recently helped to create the $60 million School and Community Anti-Violence Fund, which provides support for schools and local communities aiming to reduce violence, especially among our youth.

The senator has been recognized both locally and nationally for his work on HIV/AIDS, as well as his efforts to raise awareness on the challenges of mental and behavioral health in the African American community.

PACDC congratulates Senator Vincent Hughes on being recognized as one of PACDC’s 2023 Community Development Champion!