Select Language:
Search

Month: June 2025

News

June 6, 2025

Allegheny County Leaders Hold Roundtable to Address Child Care Teacher Staffing Crisis

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato joined Trying Together, the Allegheny Conference, state legislators, and child care providers Thursday for a roundtable to discuss new state and local survey data showing how a worsening child care teacher shortage – driven by low wages – is closing child care classrooms and causing parents to struggle to find the care they need to be able to work.

Learn More

During the roundtable at Providence Connections, results from a September Start Strong PA survey were shared to demonstrate how the staffing crisis is affecting programs in Allegheny County and across the state.

“Of the 118 providers that participated in the survey, 89% reported staffing shortages,” Innamorato said of the Allegheny County providers. “Those programs have 373 unfilled teaching positions, and if those positions were filled, they could serve an additional 3,000 children.”

A total of 1,140 Pennsylvania child care providers took the survey, of which 92% reported difficulties in recruiting staff and 85% said they struggled with teacher shortages. The shortages, which are leaving more than 3,000 unfilled positions statewide, could serve an additional 25,320 children if programs could recruit and retain the staff they need. The numbers represent only 17% of the total open registered programs in the state.

Leslie White, director of early childhood and youth programs for Providence Connections, said low wages are preventing programs from finding qualified early childhood educators.

“They are doing some of the most important work in our society – nurturing the next generation. But the reality is that many teachers can find other jobs that require far less specialized skills and pay more an hour, often with benefits,” she said. “I’ve been doing this work for nearly 40 years and fighting for better pay. The time is now to invest in the child care teaching workforce.” 

During the event, Matt Brown, an early educator at Providence and participant in the Your Career, Our Future campaign, shared his passion for teaching young children and why more qualified educators matter for the field. The initiative shares the experiences of current early educators and the families they serve in the hopes that more people will answer the call to become early educators.

Speakers said the foundational role child care plays is a critical part of the state’s economy and the bipartisan support that it has garnered to date.

“The report shows this is not just an inconvenience for working parents – this is a major economic issue that affects every business, every community, and every family in Pennsylvania,” Trying Together Public Policy Director Emily Neff said. “It is no surprise that this impact is understood by Pennsylvanians and, as such, they want lawmakers to prioritize early learning in the budget.”

Majestic Lane, chief opportunity officer for the Allegheny Conference, noted that the staffing crisis is a detriment to the economy, citing a recent economic analysis conducted by the Conference citing child care as one of the top barriers for employment in the region. 

“Child care is vital to the future of our economy and the quality of life in our region,” Lane said. “When families don’t have the resources they need and their ability to work is severely diminished, it has a measurable economic impact on our communities and our commonwealth.”

At the press conference, participants encouraged state lawmakers to prioritize early learning in the 2025-26 budget by including Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal to invest $55 million in a new and recurring Child Care and Recruitment and Retention line item to grant licensed child care providers participating in the child care subsidy program an additional $1,000 per educator.

“We’ve heard the problem, we’ve heard the solution, and we know the cost of inaction,” Trying Together Executive Director Cara Ciminillo said. “To grow our economy and support working families, we must invest in child care.”

State Reps. Lindsay Powell (D-21st District) and La’Tasha Mayes (D-24th District) and representatives from other state legislators attended the press conference and expressed their support for the investment in the child care workforce.

News

June 4, 2025

Trying Together Exec Director Discusses Your Career, Our Future on Yinz Are Good Podcast

Trying Together’s executive director discussed the Your Career, Our Future campaign alongside the Early Excellence Project on Yinz are Good’s latest podcast.

Learn More

Cara Ciminillo, Trying Together’s executive director, joined Dr. DaVonna Shannon, director of research and impact for the Early Excellence Project, to discuss the initiative with Yinz are Good host Tressa Glover. The Early Excellence Project champions Black and Brown child care providers by fostering equality, equity, and accessibility in early childhood education.

Ciminillo and Shannon discussed how the Your Career, Our Future campaign has collected stories from early educators and families in the Pittsburgh region with the intention that their shared experiences will inspire more people to answer the call to become early educators.

Making Educators the Centerpiece

The campaign centers around 15 educators and parents, who relay their positive experiences with the early childhood education field. Ciminillo cited several stories from the campaign. One educator entered the the profession at a young age and rose from being a classroom aide to an executive director. Another was a stay-at-home father who become a classroom educator due to his interest in understanding how his child was developing.

“We’re always trying to center the educator,” Ciminillo said. “They are exemplars of people coming into the field. We ask how we can help others to see themselves in these stories to draw other people to the field. You need to help people see what opportunities exist, so making provider stories the centerpiece is important.”

A Need for Investment

Ciminillo and Shannon said the campaign aims to combat an ongoing early educator shortage that has resulted in repercussions for businesses, the economy, and local communities.

“One of the pain points that we’ve heard frequently – it predated COVID and was exacerbated after COVID – is that child care programs are struggling with staffing,” Ciminillo said. “We are a field where wages are suppressed and the reason why is that families can’t pay more. Child care is expensive and it’s a regulated system; it’s based on a child-to-staff ratio. The public system has not invested enough to alleviate that problem.”

Ciminillo said that this lack of investment in early childhood education has resulted in low wages for teachers and, in turn, teachers leaving the profession as well as challenges in recruiting and retaining them.

“What happens is that providers subsidize (a lack of funding) with their own wages,” she said. “As a result, you’re not getting as much interest in going into the field as other fields that are higher income-generating.”

Ciminillo noted that many early childhood educators were making just over $9 per hour prior to COVID-19, but are now earning an average $15. However, she said wages will need to continue to rise due to the profession’s often challenging nature. She said the job’s primary focus is “brain building.”

Shannon added that part of the Your Career, Our Future campaign involves letting families know that early childhood education is not “babysitting.”

“Children are developing in these early childhood programs, which are very high-quality,” she said. “The message to employers is: If you don’t know how to invest in early childhood education, you will lose staff. People won’t be able to work if they can’t afford child care.”

To listen to the entire interview, “Episode 168: Trying Together & Early Excellence Project’s Your Career, Our Future Campaign,” visit the Yinz are Good podcast’s website.

News

OCDEL Shares Keynote Speeches, Other Resources from Conference

Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has shared resources from its recent conference for those who were not able to attend.

Learn More

OCDEL’s Stable and Secure: Supporting Children Through Trauma-Sensitive Approaches conference was held on April 22 and 23 in downtown Pittsburgh. The event drew experts, educators, and practitioners, who explored how trauma-informed care can support the well-being of children, families, and the professionals who serve them.

Those who were unable to attend can access presentation slides and view recordings and other valuable materials to listen to the insights of those who participated.

Materials from the conference’s first day include Luisa Olivio-Wolf’s keynote speech, “Honoring and Supporting Language, Culture, and Identity of Families and Children.” Resources from the second day of the conference include Dr. Marnie Aylesworth’s keynote speech, “Compassion for Self: The Act of Taking Back Our Power.”

For additional resources, visit OCDEL’s conference page.

News

June 3, 2025

Three Rivers Festival to Host Musical Performances, Activities, and Artist Market

The Three Rivers Arts Festival will bring four days of free art and music to Pittsburgh’s cultural district in early June.

Learn More

The festival, which runs from Thursday, June 5 to Sunday, June 8, will offer a variety of events and activities, musical performances, artists, and vendors. 

For visual arts, there will be an artist market, exhibitions, and films, while performances will include everything from popular music artists to dance.

The artist market runs from noon to 8 p.m. every day of the festival. It will feature hundreds of independent artists from around the nation selling handmade fine arts and crafts that vary from jewelry and paintings to woodworking and photography. 

Some of the musical performance highlights include:

  • Ras Prophet (Thursday, June 5 at 3 p.m.)
  • Megan Paullet and the HR Department (Thursday, June 5 at 6 p.m.)
  • The Shiners (Friday, June 6 at noon)
  • Tiera Kennedy (Friday, June 6 at 6 p.m.)
  • Souls of Mischief (Saturday, June 7 at 4 p.m.)
  • Rell Z the Genius (Saturday, June 7 at 5 p.m.)
  • Cautious Clay (Saturday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m.)
  • Lisa Loeb (Sunday, June 8 at 6 p.m.)
  • Suzanne Vega (Sunday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m.)

Dance performances include ballet, garba, and a dance battle featuring cash prizes and trophies.

For children, the festival will feature a creativity zone and the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh’s Magical Community Garden in the Strip District, both of which are open in the Strip District every day from noon to 6 p.m. The Pittsburgh Glass Center will offer mini-mosaic craft activities, while the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media will hold a clay workshop.

For more events and information, visit the festival’s website.

News

Kidsburgh Provides Advice on How to Talk to Children About Big Emotions

Children often have big emotions or feelings and the challenge can sometimes be getting them to say how they’re feeling. 

As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, Kidsburgh has provided advice on how to talk about big emotions – whether it’s fear, embarrassment, frustration, or others – with children.

Learn More

For many toddlers, who are still trying to figure out how to form sentences, expressing emotions or even just tiredness can be difficult, Kidsburgh writes. The article notes that while it may be tempting to react with discipline or distractions when children act out, the root cause could be something else – such as emotional illiteracy.

Kidsburgh notes that crayons, clay, music, puppets, or other forms of expression might ultimately help parents to build emotional vocabulary, rather than responding to outbursts with punishment or attempting to distract children from their source of bother.

In the article, Dr Aileen Oandasan, an Allegheny Health Network psychiatrist, said that most children begin to learn simple emotion words around age two and this typically grows from ages three to 5. During this span of time, such basic emotions as happy, sad, or mad are “developmentally normal.”

However, Oandasan says, emotional vocabulary depends on a variety of factors, including:

  • A child’s temperament and development factors
  • Parental factors, such as social or environmental conditions
  • Reinforcement of emotional vocabulary by teachers and caregivers

Oandasan goes on to say that art is an important tool for helping children to develop an emotional vocabulary. Suggested projects include feelings collages, creative art projects (painting, sculpting, or drawing), and play acting through the use of puppets or dolls that involve scenarios featuring emotionally provocative situations.

To learn more, read Kidsburgh’s article, “How Do You Feel Today? Advice on Talking Big Emotions with Little Kids.”

News

June 2, 2025

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Announces Trust Family Series of Performances

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will host its Trust Family Series of seven performances that will run from September through April.

Learn More

The series of performances is intended for all ages and aims to instill imagination and curiosity in both children and adults.

The lineup includes:

Tickets are on sale now. Those who purchase three or more shows can save up to 15 percent on their order.

For more information on the series or to buy tickets, visit the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s website.

News

May Recalls on Children’s Products

Below is a list of May recalls from the following federal agencies: the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

May Recalls

  • Dlesot recalled its snap children’s hair clips due to lead poisoning hazard. The clips violate the federal ban for lead in paint, which can be toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health issues.
  • Xylolin recalled its peg doll toy sets due to the risk of serious injury or death from choking. The peg dolls’ spherical ends can block a child’s airway.
  • Deuter recalled its Kid Comfort, Kid Comfort Pro, and Kid Comfort Active Child carriers due to fall hazards posed by the items. The hinges on the foldable rear kickstand support leg can crack or break, possibly causing a child to fall.
  • Boyro recalled its high chairs due to risk of serious injury or death from falling or entrapment hazards. The chairs, which violate federal regulations for high chairs, pose a deadly fall hazard to babies because their restraint system is not attached to the product and the locks or latches can fail. Additionally, the high chairs pose an entrapment hazard because the opening between the seat and tray is large enough that a child can become entrapped in it.
  • NICREW recalled its submersible RGB LED Lights due to risk of serious injury or death from ingestion. The lights, which violate federal regulations for consumer products with coin batteries, have a remote control with a lithium coin battery that can be easily accessed by children, posing an ingestion hazard risk. The recalled products also do not have the required warnings.
  • Leon Rading recalled its digital wall clocks due to ingestion hazards. The clocks, which violate federal regulations for consumer products with coin batteries, pose a risk of serious injury or death to children. The remote control for the clock has a lithium coin battery that can be easily accessed by children and the clocks do not have the required warnings required under Reese’s Law.
  • Fat Brain recalled its rollers tile toys that are used in PlayTab Modular Activity Boards due to magnet ingestion hazards. The toy violates federal regulations for toy magnets because it contains a magnet that can become loose, posing an ingestion hazard to children. When high-powered magnets are swallowed, they can attract each other or other metal objects and become lodged in the digestive system. This can result in perforations, twisting, and blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning, and death.
  • FidgetThings recalled its Chill Pill Magnetic Haptic Fidget Toys Red Bumpy due to risk of ingestion. The toys violate federal regulations for magnets, posing an ingestion hazard to children.When high-powered magnets are swallowed, they can attract each other or other metal objects and become lodged in the digestive system. This can result in perforations, twisting, and blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning, and death.
  • Child safety gates sold on Amazon were recalled due to risk of serious injury or death from entrapment and fall hazards. The gates violate federal safety regulations for expansion gates and expendable enclosures because a child’s torso can fit through the opening between the gate slat and side wall as well as the secondary opening. The locking mechanism does not fully engage and the gate does not resist a push-out force.
  • BuddyLove recalled its children’s Mini Danica Loungewear sets due to burn hazards. The pajamas violate flammability standards for children’s sleepwear, posing a burn hazard and risk of serious injuries or death to children.
  • Areson recalled its Rolanstar 6-Drawer Dressers due to risks involved in tipping over or entrapment. The dressers are unstable if they are not attached to the wall, posing serious tip-over and entrapment hazards that can result in injuries or death to children. The dressers violate performance requirements of the STURDY Act because they can tip over with fewer than 60 pounds applied horizontally.
  • Sivan recalled its dressers due to tip-over and entrapment hazards. The dressers are unstable if they are not attached to the wall, posing serious tip-over and entrapment hazards that can result in injuries or death to children. The dressers violate performance requirements of the STURDY Act because they can tip over with fewer than 60 pounds applied horizontally.
  • Primark recalled its DTR Plush Bag Stitch and DTR Plush Bag Angel due to choking and ingestion hazards. The zipper on the back of the plush bags can detach, posing a serious injury or death from choking or ingestion of the zipper pull.
  • Nezmi recalled its infant swings due to suffocation hazards. The swings pose a risk of suffocation to babies because they were marketed for infant sleep and have an incline greater than 10 degrees. The swings also fail to meet mandatory warning requirements under federal swing regulations. The remote control included with the swings contains a lithium coin battery and is missing the required warnings and instructions for consumer products containing those items.
  • Macy’s recalled its Holiday Lane infant-footed pajamas because the elastic on its ankles can be too tight and can restrict blood circulation, posing an injury hazard.