News

November 19, 2020

Join Us In Celebrating #GivingTuesday

Join Trying Together, your neighbors, and the global community on Tuesday, December 1, 2020, in celebrating kindness, collaboration, and generosity. Join us in #GivingTogether this #GivingTuesday.

What Is GivingTuesday?

First established in 2012, GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement that unleashes the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. It’s also an opportunity for people to stand together in unity—to use their individual power of generosity to support and champion the organizations and causes they care about.

Why Should You Participate?

2020 has been a difficult year, and it has been especially difficult for our nation’s families. Due to job loss, financial strain, education challenges, and limited access to child care, families have been working tirelessly to make ends meet and support the learning and development of their children. However, they cannot do it alone.

That’s why Trying Together’s mission to reinforce the work of early childhood is more important than ever before. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trying Together has:

    • mobilized our advocates to ensure child care businesses receive the emergency funds they need to stay in business and provide services to families;
    • distributed critical health and safety supplies to early learning programs that serve essential workers and their families;
    • developed an online search tool to assist essential workers and families with quickly finding and choosing early learning programs that meet their needs;
    • created an online community for families to connect, discuss, and support one another in their care and education planning for the 2020-21 school year; and

During the COVID-19 pandemic and after, Trying Together will continue to develop our programs, resources, and services to meet the needs of our communities. Will you join us in this work by showing your support on GivingTuesday?

What You Can Do

We all have gifts to give, and thanks to social media, online giving, mail, and phones, there are limitless ways to use your generosity to reinforce the early childhood field. For examples of how you can give this giving season, see the list below!

Submit A Donation

If you would like to support Trying Together’s work directly, consider submitting a financial donation! We appreciate donations of any size. However, for those looking for recommended amounts, Trying Together has identified the following tiers:

    • Early Childhood Supporter ($60)
    • Early Childhood Sustainer ($120)
    • Early Childhood Champion ($1,000)

Thanks to the generosity of Trying Together’s Board of Directors, all donations will be matched dollar for dollar up to $2,000. Help us secure these matched dollars by donating!

Share Your Story

When you think of a good teacher, who do you think of? Take time this GivingTuesday to thank that person via social media, phone, or email and let them know how their work has positively impacted your life or the life of your child.

SOCIAL MEDIA

1. Join the larger community in celebrating gratitude by posting your thank you message, picture, or video on social media using #GiveThanks or #GivingTogether.

    • Example: I’d like to say thank you to @amymiller for the wonderful work she’s been doing to support my child’s learning and healthy development! Ashton still can’t stop talking about the caterpillar craft he did last month! 🐛🦋 #GiveThanks #GivingTuesday

2. Set a goal for how many educators you’d like to thank this giving season and share it out on social media using #GiveThanks or #GivingTogether!

    • Example: This #GivingTuesday, I’m celebrating gratitude by thanking three early learning professionals who have had a positive impact on my life and child. Will you join me? #GiveThanks 📞💌

#GivingTuesday is on December 1 this year and to celebrate, I’d like to #GiveThanks to the early learning professionals who work tirelessly to make sure my child is safe, supported, and cared for. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. Thank you!CLICK TO TWEET

PHONE OR EMAIL

If you have their phone number or email, contact your early learning professional and let them know how much you appreciate the work they do to support your family.

Share Our Fundraising Page

Another great way to support Trying Together is by sharing our fundraising page with your network. To help get you started, we have created a GivingTuesday Social Media Toolkit that features sample social media posts and more!

More Information

For questions, please contact Trying Together at info@tryingtogether.org.

News

May 29, 2019

HundrED Announces Pittsburgh Spotlight Selections

In March of 2019, HundrED released their full list of Pittsburgh Spotlight innovation submissions. Now, after two months of careful deliberation and assessment, HundrED has announced their 12 featured innovative solutions.

About the Spotlight

In partnership with the Grable Foundation and Remake Learning, HundrED’s Pittsburgh Spotlight shines a light on the educators and innovators doing extraordinary things to help students in southwestern Pennsylvania succeed. Receiving 82 individual submissions from southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia schools, museums, libraries, nonprofits, government agencies, and more, the Pittsburgh Spotlight is a great opportunity for changemakers to highlight, celebrate, and learn more about the work happening in local communities.

While HundrED Spotlights are designed to identify 10 of the most inspiring innovations that focus on a location or theme, Lasse Leponiemi, Executive Director and Co-Founder of HundrED said,

“Pittsburgh broke that mold. The response was so robust that we chose to expand our selection to 12 innovations.”

Selected Innovations

    • Simple Interactions: This research project of the Fred Rogers Center creates free tools and resources to give educators a language for noticing and affirming their interactions with young children. These simple interactions support relationships between children and adults.
    • Fabricating Change in Mental Wellness: Students diagnosed with mental health conditions work side by side with social workers, therapists, and teachers in this digital Fab Lab at Intermediate Unit 1. The results: increased participation, improved engagement, and fewer disruptions.
    • The Finch: Borne out of research about what engages and excites students in learning computer science, this robot developed by BirdBrain Technologies can be programmed to do physical actions in 9 different coding languages. A free loan program makes it widely available to schools.
    • Global Minds Initiative: Founded, designed, and run by students, this after-school program combats intolerance by fostering intercultural friendships and global understanding. Immigrant and refugee students come together with their peers in safe, inclusive spaces.
    • Hillman Academy: At this 8-week full-time summer program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, high school students perform cancer research under the mentorship of world-renowned scientists in a rigorous, supportive, real-world STEM environment.
    • JAM: Two first-grade girls’ interest in making things to help their community has blossomed into an after-school maker learning program at Avonworth School District that is a catalyst for kindness in school and an engine for raising funds for community causes.
    • MAKESHOP: The first museum makerspace, this permanent exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is a research-based learning environment where children and families make, play, and design using “real stuff.”  And they offer professional development, maker learning resources, and more.
    • Summer Dreamers Academy: By combining the academic benefits of summer school with the fun of camp, this free summer program run by Pittsburgh Public Schools reduces summer learning loss while giving Pittsburgh students fun, enriching summer experiences.
    • transformED:  Allegheny Intermediate Unit is rethinking teacher professional development and support for school districts implementing innovative practices. At transformED, educators explore, discover, invent, and learn.
    • Youth Express: Students use the tools of radio to create and distribute original programming through Saturday Light Brigade‘s 24/7 radio station. Programming is based on the idea that when youth realize that their voice matters, they realize that they matter.

To learn more, visit the HundrED website.

See HundrED’s official release.

About HundrED

HundrED is a not-for-profit organization that researches, highlights, and propels K-12 education innovations in an effort to improve education and inspire a grassroots movement by encouraging pedagogically sound, ambitious inventions to spread across the world. The Pittsburgh Spotlight is one of 6 individual spotlight categories, all centered around specific regions or topics. Through this spotlight, HundrED seeks to highlight educators and innovators in our area that are doing extraordinary things to help students.

Interested in highlighting your innovative solution? Submit your innovation for HundrED’s 2020 Global Collection by June 30, 2019.

*Information provided by HundrED

News

January 29, 2019

Looking Forward, Together

Can you believe it’s been one year since we changed our name to Trying Together?!

As I reflect on all that has changed, particularly in the last two years, I am encouraged by what has stood the test of time: our commitment to supporting the work of early childhood.

Through our collaborations with you, we are creating a future in which caregivers feel valued, children have access to high-quality early learning environments, and families have the resources they need to support their children’s early learning experiences.

We look forward to working together with you to make this vision a reality for all young children and their caregivers in 2019 and beyond. Like Fred Rogers said, “…trying together, just about anything can be possible.”

Cheers,

Cara Ciminillo, Trying Together Executive Director

News

December 10, 2018

Family Celebration

Celebrate the holidays with Homewood-Brushton Family Support Center!

Join us for activities for the whole family, and enjoy finger foods, arts and crafts, and pictures with Santa.

Schedule:

  • 4:00 – 4:30 p.m.  

    Families arrive at the center

  • 4:30 – 5:15 p.m.

    Arts & crafts for parents and children in the basement area

  • 5:20 – 6:00 p.m.

    Finger foods, pictures with Santa, and card signing in the basement area

  • 6:10 – 7:00 p.m.

    Disbursements of toys and pictures in the common living area and café

 

News

November 29, 2018

The VOICE for Children Awards Celebration

The Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC) announced that their 2019 VOICE for Children Award Celebration will be held at the historic Hotel Hershey on April 5, 2019.

About the Award

PennAEYC recognizes the critical role advocacy plays in high-quality early learning settings and celebrates those who speak on behalf of Pennsylvania’s children. As the voice for early care and learning, community advocates play an important role in assuring all Pennsylvania’s children get the start that they deserve in school and in life.

The VOICE for Children Award is the only statewide award in Pennsylvania recognizing the grassroots leaders whose work impacts the quality of care for young children. Now in its 9th year, the VOICE Award celebrates not only individual award recipients, but the early childhood profession.

Hotel Reservations

If you plan to stay at the Hotel Hershey, reserve your room online or call (855.729.3108) today as rooms are limited. If calling, ask for the room block for the PA Association for the Education of Young Children at The Hotel Hershey, April 5-6, 2019. Other area hotels are also available.

Questions

For more information, contact Rose Snyder via email (rsnyder@pennaeyc.org).

*Information provided by PennAEYC*