For the first time since 2021, 26 Advocacy Fellows successfully completed their first month in the 2024 Early Childhood Education Advocacy Fellowship program at Trying Together’s main office.

About

In January 2024, Trying Together commenced its fourth Early Childhood Education (ECE) Advocacy Fellowship. Throughout the year, Fellows will convene monthly, focusing on acquiring public policy knowledge, enhancing leadership skills, and cultivating their voices as advocates for early childhood education.

At their first workshop session in January, Fellows delved into  Early Learning PA (ELPA) campaigns, including Start Strong PA, Pre-K for PA, and Childhood Begins at Home, and Thriving PA. They also heard from past Fellows, gaining valuable insights on how to maximize their Fellowship experience and how their advocacy actions, no matter how big or small, can make an impact.

If you’re interested in advocacy, visit the Take Action page!

More Information

If you’re eager to learn more about the Fellowship, please visit our webpage, sign up to receive our newsletters, and follow us on Facebook or Twitter. We will share updates as soon as information becomes available.

“Slug in Love,” written by Rachel Bright and illustrated by Nadia Shireen has been named the 2024 Pennsylvania One Book.

About the PA One Book

The Pennsylvania One Book Early Literacy Program is an initiative that highlights the importance of early literacy development in preschoolers; the significance of reading early and often to children; and how to engage them in conversation and other activities around books.

Each year, the PA One Book Committee chooses a different children’s picture book to highlight.

“Slug in Love” is the rhyming story of one slug’s search for love – and young readers will learn that there’s a friend for everyone.

For more information and resources, visit the Pennsylvania One Book website.

In partnership with Start Strong PA, Trying Together released the report, “The Value and Cost of High-Quality Early Care and Education,” which provides insight into the importance of high-quality early care and education.

About the Report

This report, the first in a series of exploring the barriers to high-quality, aims to:

• outline the history of Keystone STARS (launched in 2002)
• review current research
• elevate providers’ voices to explore financial barriers related to reaching and maintaining quality ratings

While there is significant value in Keystone STARS, over 20 years after its creation, insufficient funding can make high-quality ratings unattainable for programs across the state. High-quality early care and education is associated with high costs because it requires multiple layers of resources, including experienced and qualified teachers.

Policy recommendations:

• replace the current market rate survey with a cost estimation study using an approved cost modeling tool to ensure child care subsidy reimbursement rates meet the true cost of quality care
• increase program incentives within Keystone STARS
• invest in additional supports to recruit, recognize, and retain qualified early childhood teachers

Learn more and read the full report or its executive summary.

The Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center unveiled its new library space for visitors.

Library Details

The library will have books for children ages birth through 18. Children who visit the Hub & Family Center can take a book home to keep.

Staff and Storytime at the Hub! participants held a ribbon cutting for the library on January 16.

After reading “Lola at the Library,” children decorated tote bags for their chosen book.

About the Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center

The Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center is a community resource of Trying Together. It is one of 27 Family Centers located in neighborhoods around Allegheny County.

For more information about The Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center, contact Toni Beasley at toni@tryingtogether.org, see our full list of staff contacts, and see our events calendar.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is conducting a new survey to gather current data from the field about the up-to-the-moment realities of what is happening across the sector.

About the Survey

Federal child care stabilization grants ended on September 30, 2023. Through its partnership with the RAPID EC Survey Project, NAEYC has shared some data about the impact on the national child care landscape. Completing this new survey will help NAEYC get updated, state-based, and localized data and stories to share with advocates, policymakers, the press, and the public.

Early childhood professionals can complete the survey in English or Spanish. The survey will close on Sunday, January 21.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Education department is inviting families to a free performance of  “Rainbow Fish.”

Families can request up to four free tickets to the show, which will be held on Saturday, February 24 at 2 p.m. at the Byham Theater. Transportation to the theater will be provided for those that need it.

Board the bus at either the Greater Hazelwood Family Center (5006 Second Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15207) or the Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center (7219 Kelly St, Pittsburgh, PA 15208).

Sign up online, or call 412-456-2695 to request tickets. The last day to register is Friday, February 3, at 5 p.m.

An expansion of Pennsylvania’s child care tax credit will increase the amount families with children in child care can receive. The expansion allows individuals to claim 100% of the federal child care tax credit they claimed.

About the Child Care Tax Credit

The Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit that is available to Pennsylvanians at the state level is based on the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. Taxpayers must receive the federal credit to also be eligible for the state credit in Pennsylvania. The major expansion signed into law by PA Governor Josh Shapiro means:

• The maximum credit will be $1,050 (one child) or $2,100 (two or more children).

• The credit cap phases down as income levels increase.

Prior to the expansion, the maximum credit Pennsylvania families could receive was up to $315 (one child) or $630 (two or more children). Under the new law, Pennsylvanians could see up to a 233% increase in their tax credit from last year.

For more information about the Childcare and Dependent Care Tax Credit, visit pa.gov/childcaretaxcredit.

Child Care Crisis Continues

The current child care crisis in Pennsylvania is a result of supply-side challenges resulting from
an underpaid child care workforce leaving the field for higher-paying jobs (average child care
teacher wage in PA is less than $12.50/hr.).

Without addressing supply-side solutions, such as teacher wages, programs will continue to
have closed classrooms and growing wait lists.

While the expansion of the child care tax credit is a solution for making child care more affordable for families, this investment, along with the other early childhood investments in the budget don’t solve the root cause of the child care crisis or do anything to increase access.

The tax credit – considered a demand-side solution – helps families with affording child care; however, it does not address supply-side issues such as closed classrooms and long waiting lists due to workforce shortages. Tax credits will not help families access child care if they remain on wait lists because there are not enough teachers to serve their children.

Sign on to Trying Together’s public policy alerts to advocate on behalf of young children, their families, and the early care and education professionals who interact with them.

Allegheny County will allot $500,000 in additional funding to make child care more affordable for lower-income families, Allegheny County Executive Sarah Innamorato announced on January 10, 2024.

About Allegheny Child Care Matters

The investment, paid for using available American Rescue Plan funds, will go toward Allegheny Child Care Matters, a county-level pilot program for working families.

The program is focused on supporting children’s equitable access to stable, quality child care while allowing working families to maintain or increase their participation in the workforce. Families that meet the Child Care Works (CCW) subsidy eligibility requirements for work or education hours but earn more than the 200% of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines (the CCW maximum), while still being under 300%, can participate.

The Allegheny County Department of Children’s Initiatives (DCI), in partnership with the Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC) Region 5, launched the pilot program in April 2022. The $500,000 in county funding will clear the program’s current waitlist of 28 families and open up some additional slots. Since its inception, the Allegheny Child Care Matters program has helped 357 families attend local early learning programs.

DCI estimates that up 15,000 children in Allegheny County could qualify for the program, according to a press release issued by Innamorato’s office.

Families with questions about the program can call the ELRC Region 5 at 412.350.3577 or 1.888.340.3572.

More Coverage

• Innamorato to provide $500k in subsidies to make child care more accessible in Allegheny County, WESA

• Innamorato announces $500K for child care facilities throughout Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Start Strong PA campaign has launched a Texting Tuesday campaign this month encouraging supporters to text Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and ask him to prioritize early learning in the state budget.

About the Texting Campaign

Last year, Gov. Shapiro set up a phone number for Pennsylvanians to reach out and share their priorities with him. In February, he will propose his budget for fiscal year 2024-2025.

Families and early childhood education professionals are encouraged to text and advocate for greater investments in the upcoming fiscal year.

Example texts:

Child care/pre-k directors and owners

• I own/direct a child care/pre-k program and can’t recruit or retain staff. We need more state funding to solve this crisis.
• Child care programs and classrooms are closing and need more state funding to stay open.

Child care/pre-k teachers

• My job as a child care/pre-k teacher allows others to work – but I shouldn’t have to work 3 jobs to support my own family. We need more state funding to solve this crisis.
• Child care programs and classrooms are closing and need more state funding to stay open.

Parents with children in child care/pre-k

• High-quality child care and pre-k teachers are impossible to recruit and retain because programs can’t pay them enough. We need more funding to keep high-quality teachers for our children.
• I rely on child care to go to work and support my family, but my program is struggling to find staff to stay open. Pennsylvania must fund child care so families can work.

Pennsylvanians can text Gov. Shapiro at 717-788-8990 over the next few weeks.