Reading Ready Pittsburgh will open a free bookstore for children, their families, and early childhood educators on February 1, 2024.

About B is for Books

Children and families can visit the new B is for Books bookstore to read books together onsite and pick three books to take home and keep.

This bookstore will also serve as a resource for early childhood educators.  Educators can meet with a librarian to choose and request books for their classroom. The service currently offers a variety of new and gently used books for children from birth to second grade.

B is for Books is located at 222 East 8th Avenue, Homestead, PA 15120.

There will be a family open house event on Saturday, February 17, from noon to 3 p.m.

Reading Ready Pittsburgh is a non-profit organization supporting the healthy development of young children by increasing access to books and by encouraging significant family engagement through reading. For details about the new bookstore, visit the Reading Ready Pittsburgh website.

Registration is now open for the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) Early Childhood Education Conference, Stable and Secure: Supporting Children Through Trauma Sensitive Approaches.

About the Early Education Conference

This two-day conference is scheduled for March 25-26, 2024, at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA and is free for attendees.

The conference focuses on deepening the understanding of child and adult well-being through trauma-sensitive approaches. This unique gathering brings together experts, practitioners, and educators, committed to creating stable and secure environments for young children, their families, and the adults who serve them.

Attendees will have access to trauma-informed care sessions; wellbeing workshops; social and emotional supports; and networking opportunities.

Registration

All directors and teachers of Pennsylvanian licensed child care centers, group child care, family child care homes, and after school care are invited. Registration is limited to two staff per program and to 500 attendees total.

Conference details and registration are available on the PA Keys website.

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is seeking input while it continues its development of the 2024 – 2029 Housing Strategy.

(This article was updated on January 9, 2024 with dates for scheduled feedback forums).

Learn More

The DHS’s current housing strategy work builds on the foundation provided by 2016-2020 Supporting Pennsylvanians Through Housing Plans and its 2018 Update. The updated Housing Strategy, which will be released in the spring of 2024, will address Pennsylvanians’ evolving housing needs by understanding the state’s current housing context. Some priority areas include:

• Supportive Housing
• Homelessness & Housing Stability
• Housing Services & Supports
• Housing Affordability
• Housing Supply & Accessibility

The Housing Strategy team will be facilitating three public virtual one-hour feedback forums in January 2024.

• Wednesday, January 10 at 12 p.m. |  Register
• Monday, January 22 at 3 p.m. | Register
• Wednesday, January 24 at 6 p.m. | Register

Pennsylvanians are also encouraged to complete the interest survey, to follow the project and learn about engagement opportunities.

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato’s Administration is seeking input from residents about their priorities and what they want from county government.

All in Allegheny Community Survey

All in Allegheny invites people county residents to share their ideas, priorities, and needs with the Innamorato Administration through a survey.

The survey gives residents the opportunity to share their thoughts on child care, housing, healthcare, safety, reducing pollution, and other topics. Feedback from the survey will help to inform the county government’s priorities.

The survey has been translated into the nine languages most commonly spoken in the county and is available at AlleghenyforAll.com/community-survey.

Visit the Allegheny for All website to stay involved, find information about upcoming community conversations about survey results, and share more of your ideas for County government.

About All in Allegheny

All In Allegheny is a large and inclusive community engagement process that will understand what people from every part of Allegheny want from County government and build an action plan for County government to deliver on community needs during the Innamorato Administration.

County Executive Innamorato named nearly 200 esteemed and diverse leaders to nine policy committees that will inform her administration’s governing agenda. Trying Together Executive Director Cara Ciminillo is co-chair of the Robust Education, Workforce Development, and Youth Investments Committee.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS) is seeking to use its Medicaid program to offer targeted supports and services to certain Pennsylvanians through Bridges to Success: Keystones of Health for Pennsylvania (Keystones of Health).

DHS’ goal for Keystones of Health is to improve health and quality of life for Pennsylvania’s Medicaid beneficiaries by helping with health-related social needs, which can improve a person’s quality of life and offset the need for more costly, intensive acute care.

Learn More

DHS submitted its application for Bridges to Success: Keystones of Health for Pennsylvania, a Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver for the January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2030, demonstration period.

1115 demonstrations allow states to develop programs in coordination with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that provide services and benefits not normally allowed in state Medicaid plans.

Focus Areas

Under Keystones of Health, DHS will develop a set of services and benefits in four focus areas:

1. Reentry – Improve transitions to the community for beneficiaries reentering society from correctional facilities. The available services, which will require a legislative amendment, will focus on improving transitions to community based health care and social services with a particular emphasis on those with significant health care needs such as serious mental illness and substance use disorder.

2. Housing – Add new Medicaid services to help beneficiaries without stable housing find and keep a place to live. Having stable housing makes it easier to find and use health care. These services will focus on beneficiaries with behavioral health issues and chronic conditions where health outcomes are greatly impacted by improved consistency of care and medication access.

3. Food and Nutrition – Provide food and nutrition services to specific Medicaid populations facing food insecurity, including pregnant beneficiaries and beneficiaries with diet-sensitive conditions. Services would include direct food support such as medically tailored meals or groceries with a goal of also connecting eligible beneficiaries to long-term food assistance, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

4. Multi-Year Continuous Coverage for Children Under 6 Years of Age – Provide continuous Medicaid coverage for children from birth or older but under 6 years of age to reduce gaps in coverage that interrupt access to essential health care services, such as preventive care. This proposal provides eligibility from birth, or when a child first receives Medicaid, through the last day of the month in which they turn 6 years of age.

More Information

Details are available on the DHS website.

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) Bureau of Early Learning Policy and Professional Development, has announced the Keystone STARS Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Awards, a one-time financial award for eligible child care programs with a Department of Human Services (DHS) regular Certificate of Compliance (CoC) and designated as a Keystone STAR 2, 3, or 4. The Early Learning Resource Centers (ELRCs) will handle award fund distribution on OCDEL’s behalf.

About

Beginning on December 18, 2023, eligible programs will receive a Keystone STARS CQI Award Eligibility and Acceptance Letter from their ELRC. The letter will include the maximum award amount a child care provider is eligible for and contact information for their ELRC.

Providers who believe they are eligible for the award but have not received a letter by January 15, 2024, should immediately contact the ELRC.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Keystone STARS CQI Award, a provider must meet all the following requirements both as of November 30, 2023, and at the time of the award payment:

1. The provider holds a regular DHS Certificate of Compliance.
2. The provider is designated as a Keystone STAR 2, 3, or 4 program and is not in a Keystone STARS Suspension status.
   • NOTE: OCDEL is providing a policy exception for STAR 1 programs who were actively working to move up in designation. To be granted the policy exception, a STAR 1 program must have had an open designation case in the PD Registry system as of November 30, 2023. In addition, these programs must be successful in moving up to a STAR 2, 3, or 4 designations as evidenced by a completed designation case in the PD Registry System on or before January 12, 2024.
3. If applicable, the provider must have completed the reporting requirements for the following grants:
   • ARPA Stabilization Grant
   • Workforce Support Grant 1.0
   • Workforce Support Grant 2.0
4. The provider does not owe liens/liabilities to the commonwealth and/or federal government, including tax liabilities.

Allowable Expenses

Eligible programs can use the Keystone STARS CQI Award funds for eligible expenses incurred from July 1, 2023, to May 8, 2024 in the following categories:

• Staff Qualifications and Professional Development
• Early Childhood Education Program
• Partnerships with Families and Communities
• Leadership and Management
• Accreditation Costs (toward an OCDEL-approved Alternate Pathway)

After spending funds on eligible expenses, the child care provider will be responsible for submitting a Keystone STARS CQI Award Final Expense Report to their ELRC to detail how they spent award funds.

More Information

For additional details, including eligibility requirements, policy exceptions, award amounts, allowable and ineligible expenses, award process and timelines, and FAQs, please see the Announcement ELRC 23 #05 Keystone STARS Continuous Quality Improvement Award.