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Author: Maria Pisano

Healthy Minds for Educators

News

April 18, 2022

Healthy Minds for Educators

All Pennsylvania early childhood education (ECE) professionals will have two years of free access to the Healthy Minds app, Healthy Minds @Work.

About Healthy Minds

The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has invested in providing access to the Healthy Minds app to all ECE professionals in an effort to support them as they learn to cope with their personal trauma from the COVID-19 pandemic while also supporting the children and families they serve.

The Healthy Minds @Work program offers tools to help individuals train their minds to be more calm and focused, develop healthier relationships with colleagues, gain perspective in workplace interactions, and bring more meaning to work. With a combination of podcast-style lessons and both seated and active meditations, users learn what the science says about the brain and practice skills based on these insights.

According to an OCDEL announcement, users of the Healthy Minds @Work Program report burnout symptoms reduced by 25% and 70% reported a clinically significant decrease in depression, anxiety, and stress.

Access can be found on the Pennsylvania Key website where you will:

  1. Search for your Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC) Region,

  2. Click on the link to get to to the login page for Healthy Minds.

  3. Download the app on your smart phone device and get started.

Community of Practice for Child Care Providers

The ELRC Region 5 will be hosting virtual Healthy Minds Communities of Practice sessions every Monday at 1:30 p.m. from May 9, 2022 through October 2022 for all child care providers. These are short sessions (15-minutes) where you can engage in a mindful practice together and talk about successes and challenges in practicing. Learn more about the Healthy Minds CoPs.

March 2022 Child Care Staffing Survey Results

News

April 14, 2022

March 2022 Child Care Staffing Survey Results

A survey conducted by partners of the Start Strong PA Campaign quantifies Pennsylvania’s current child care  staffing crisis — caused by low wages.

Survey Results

The survey — conducted between March 8, 2022 and April 3, 2022 — details the current child care staffing crisis in 1,163 Pennsylvania child care programs across 63 counties and its effects on working families’ ability to access care.

According to the survey:

  • Nearly 32,500 children currently sit on waiting lists.
  • More than 30,000 additional children could be served at respondents’ sites if they were fully staffed.
  • 91% of respondents reported staffing shortages.
  • Programs need to fill nearly 7,000 open child care positions.
  • 48% of respondents have closed at least one classroom.

In September 2021, Start Strong PA released a similar survey showing that Pennsylvania’s child care centers were experiencing a staffing shortage resulting in more than 25,000 children sitting on waiting lists. In just six months, the waiting list numbers have increased by nearly 10,000 children with 169 fewer providers reporting.

The following fact sheets are available with statewide and county results:

Petition

Advocates are calling on the General Assembly and the Wolf Administration to “Raise Child Care” by allocating $115 million in sustainable state and/or federal funds as part of the final state budget to provide a $2 per hour wage supplement for child care teachers and staff.

Start Strong PA is asking for your signature in support the investment to child care providers.

More Information

To learn more about the survey and petition, visit the Start Strong PA website.

The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books to be Held in May

News

April 13, 2022

The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books to be Held in May

The first-ever Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books is coming to East Liberty on May 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

About

The festival is an all-day, free event spread across six venues in East Liberty, paying tribute to Pittsburgh’s rich literary community and love of reading.

The festival will feature more than 30 nationally renowned authors with ties to Pittsburgh, dozens amazing poets, kid’s story times and activities, entertainment, books and comic stores, publishers, and more.

Location

Festival activities will be held at the following locations:

  • Bakery Square, 6425 Penn Avenue
  • Carnegie Library (East Liberty branch), 130 South Whitefield Street
  • Duolingo, 5900 Penn Avenue
  • East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 116 South Highland Avenue
  • Kelly Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Avenue
  • The Maverick. 120 South Whitefield Street

More Information

Details and schedules can be found on the festival’s website.

 

Tree Pittsburgh Hosting Adoption Event in Homewood

News

April 12, 2022

Tree Pittsburgh Hosting Adoption Event in Homewood

Tree Pittsburgh is hosting a tree adoption event on May 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  in Homewood.

About

The tree adoption event is going to be held at 7351 Frankstown Avenue. Families can adopt two trees per household.

Available Trees

The majority of the trees will be 2 quart sized, 3″ diameter and 9″ deep. Available species include:

  • Riverbirch
  • Musclewood
  • Eastern Redbud
  • Persimmon
  • Eastern Red Cedar
  • Sweetbay Magnolia

If you are interested in picking up a tree, RSVP online and note the species of tree you want.

If you do not have access to transportation or are someone who experiences mobility restrictions, contact odera@treepittsburgh.org or 412.781.8733 to discuss alternative ways to receive a tree.

New Social-Emotional Wellbeing Resource for Parents

News

April 11, 2022

New Social-Emotional Wellbeing Resource for Parents

Trying Together has released a new social-emotional wellbeing resource for parents through the Parenting Together Pathway.

About

The new video, Social and Emotional Wellbeing, provides an overview of what social-emotional wellness is in early childhood and includes topics of why it’s important, and how you and your child can work together to encourage your child’s social-emotional growth forming close, secure, meaningful relationships.

The Parenting Together Pathway is a video-based learning series to provide high-quality information on early childhood development to parents and caregivers in Allegheny County and surrounding areas. Launched in April 2021, the Parenting Together Pathway provides families the opportunity to learn more about: brain development; play; interactions and relationships; technology; child care; advocacy; early intervention; and safety to better support their children’s healthy growth.

Additional Information

Please visit the Trying Together website to view all video content for the Parenting Together Pathway.

Certification Rewrite Subcommittee Members Announced

News

April 7, 2022

Certification Rewrite Subcommittee Members Announced

The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has announced the members of the Early Learning Council (ELC) Certification Rewrite Ad Hoc Subcommittee. These individuals were selected to represent the larger child care provider community and provided direct feedback on drafts of the rewritten child care certification regulations.

About the Subcommittees

The Subcommittee has been divided into five Subchapter Workgroups:

  1. Purpose and Authority – includes the introduction to the regulations, and outlines their purpose, applicability and definitions.

  2. Family and Community – includes regulations related to family engagement, communication with parents, procedures for admission, parent consent and services to a child with a developmental delay, disability, or special healthcare need.

  3. Professional Development Training and Requirements – includes regulations related to facility persons including suitability, age, qualifications, responsibilities, professional development and preservice training.

  4. Early Childhood Education Program – includes regulations related to staff: child ratio, physical site, equipment, fire safety, the program, elements of child and adult health, nutrition, transportation, and adult records.

  5. Certification and Oversite – includes regulations related to general requirements related to applications, appeals & waivers, building codes and insurance, child abuse reporting, departmental access, emergency plans, and the handling of child records.

Lindsey Ramsey, Assistant Director of Public Policy and Practice at Trying Together, is a member of the Purpose and Authority Subcommittee.

More Information

To learn more about these Subchapters, to find out who are the Ad Hoc Subcommittee members, and learn what to expect from this next phase of the project, visit the Pennsylvania Key website.

Visit the Certification Rewrite Page on the Pennsylvania Key’s website for details about the project.

2022 Pennsylvania’s Equity in Early Childhood Education Champion Award Winners

News

2022 Pennsylvania’s Equity in Early Childhood Education Champion Award Winners

The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has announced winners of the 2022 Pennsylvania Equity in Early Childhood Education Champion Awards.

The award, provided from the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), brings awareness to and highlight the equity work being done within Pennsylvania’s early childhood education and afterschool settings, and by child care, evidence-based home visiting and early intervention professionals, as it aligns with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Equity and Inclusion Toolkit, and with the position statement of the National Association for the Education for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education Position Statement.

Equity in Early Childhood Education Champion Award Winners

Several Early Childhood Education Champions are from Western Pennsylvania:

Gold Recipients

  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh
  • La Scuola d’Italia Galileo Galilei in Pittsburgh

Silver Recipients

  • HOST (Heritage Out of School Time) in North Braddock
  • Heritage 4 Kids Early Learning Center in Braddock

Bronze Recipients

  • Rutledge Institute for Early Childhood Education in California
  • The Village of FPC (California, PA) in California
  • Jessie Bucci in New Castle

Honorable Mentions

  • Melissa Judy in Connellsville
  • Grand Beginnings Children’s Center, Inc. in Indiana
  • The Growing Garden Child Care Center, LLC in Tarentum

A full list of winners and information about Equity and Early Childhood Education in Pennsylvania is available on the PA Keys website.

 

 

 

Early Childhood League Develops Resources for Families

News

April 6, 2022

Early Childhood League Develops Resources for Families

Trying Together has released a new policy report and early intervention guide for families developed by the Early Childhood League.

About the Early Childhood League

Trying Together teamed up with a group of parents and caregivers to launch the Early Childhood League in 2021. The League aimed to connect parents, caregivers, and community organizations and empower them to advocate for positive changes in early learning policies that affect them and their children. From January through September, members met monthly to discuss communications techniques, community organizing strategies, early childhood education principles, and public policy processes. League members connected to campaigns, such as Start Strong PA, Pre-K for PA and Childhood Begins At Home.

Members joined one of the following committees:

  • Mobilization Committee: The Mobilization Committee focused on grassroots policy issues for children and families. They learned about the three ELPA campaigns and community organizing strategies. Their main projects focused on forming a call to action campaign. 
  • Tool Kit/ Early Intervention Committee: The toolkit committee compiled an Early Intervention Resource Guide to support families with children with developmental concerns.
  • Policy Committee: The policy committee developed a policy report that outlined the collective advocacy focus of the ECE League. 

Resources

Members of the Early Childhood League created the following  guides for the community:

 

 

Continued Suspended Child Care Certification Regulations Until July 1

News

April 4, 2022

Continued Suspended Child Care Certification Regulations Until July 1

The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has announced some child care certification regulations relating to indoor child care spaces, child growth and development reports, and school-age children continue to be suspended until July 1, 2022.

Learn More

On March 31, OCDEL released the Announcement C-21-09 Updated March 31, 2022 Reinstating and Extensions of Child Care Certification Regulation Suspensions Due to Act 73 and Act 14.

Governor Wolf Tom signed Act 14 into law, which further extends a number of regulatory suspensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some that are “related to federal exemptions granted under the federal public health emergency declaration.”

The following regulations continue to be suspended until July 1, 2022:

  • A facility shall provide indoor childcare space for individual and group small muscle activity.

  • Indoor child care space may not be used simultaneously as play space.

  • Measured indoor space excludes space occupied by halls, bathrooms, offices, kitchens, and locker rooms.

  • The services to be provided to the family and the child, including the Department’s approved form to provide information to the family about the child’s growth and development in the context of the services being provided. The operator shall complete and update the form and provide a copy to the family in accordance with the updates regarding emergency contact information in §3270.124(f); §3280.124(f); §3290.123(f) (relating to emergency contact information).

  • If a child is required to be enrolled in public or private school under the Public School Code of 1949 (24 P.S. §§ 1-101— 27-2702) and if the child is not enrolled and if the child is not exempted from enrollment under the Public School Code, a child day care facility may not admit the child for care during the hours when the child is required by law to attend public or private school.

Details can be found in OCDEL’s announcement.

Child Care Career Openings in the Pittsburgh Area

News

March 31, 2022

Child Care Career Openings in the Pittsburgh Area

Are you looking for open child care positions? Early learning programs in the Greater Pittsburgh Area are hiring! See featured jobs for this week.

 

Child Care Positions in Pittsburgh

  • Summer Youth Development Professional

    The Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania is seeking a Youth Development Professional to be hands on with the youth to implement educational curriculum and programming on a day to day basis. This role is responsible for the supervision and safety of all program participants as well as relationship building. Other responsibilities include the promotion of Clubhouse membership through outreach; conducting youth evaluations per DHS requirements; and providing an environment that promotes creativity and exploration through learning, among other things.

  • Assistant Group Supervisor

    Absolutely Loving Hands is seeking an Assistant Group Supervisor to coordinate and assist in the implementation of daily activities. Applicants should have a high school diploma or accredited college or university certificate.

 

Submit a Job

Each week, Trying Together highlights employer-submitted jobs on our website, social media, and in our newsletter.

All jobs submitted after Tuesday each week will be published in the following week’s news post. Publication dates may vary due to state and federal holidays. Unrelated jobs will not be included.

For questions, contact Heidi Winkler at heidi@tryingtogether.org.

Other Jobs in Early Childhood

ECE Hire

Visit the ECE Hire website to view early childhood education job listings and helpful tips on interviewing, resumes, and more.

Submit a Job to PACCA

Pennsylvania Child Care Association (PACCA) offers a Job Board for its members to post jobs for free and sends out submitted jobs via their Facebook page and e-newsletter. PACCA members can submit jobs online after signing into their membership account. For questions, contact Maureen Murphy at maureen.murphy@pacca.org.

 

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