News

March 20, 2020

COVID-19: Considerations for Early Childhood Professionals

Join Executive Director for the Institute for Child Preparedness Andrew Roszak, JD, MPA, EMT-Paramedic, on March 24 for his webinar, “COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic: Considerations for Early Childhood Professionals.”

About

Gryphon House is partnering with the preparedness experts at the Institute for Childhood Preparedness to offer this special webinar, designed to help cut through the noise and provide you with the essential information you need as an early childhood professional. Gryphon House author, Andrew Roszak, will provide the latest updates and information designed to help keep you safe.

This webinar will be of benefit to pre-k teachers, librarians, child care providers, and school and district leaders. There will be time to have your questions answered at the end of the presentation.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the event webpage!

News

February 7, 2020

2020-21 Pennsylvania Budget Proposal Response

On February 5, during his 2020-2021 budget proposal address, Governor Tom Wolf dared us to imagine a Pennsylvania where no one is denied the chance to work because they can’t find child care. A Pennsylvania where high-quality child care is accessible and affordable. A Pennsylvania where child care rates are stabilized and child care providers are incentivized. Trying Together belives in that dream, but the budget proposal itself offers no new state investments to make these dreams a reality.

About

While the 2020-21 budget proposal offered increased state investments in early childhood programs like pre-k and home-visiting, it’s missing state investments for something that affects the lives of every parent and caregiver in Pennsylvania: child care. Early Learning PA highlights this issue in their recent press release, stating, “Given that 70 percent of Pennsylvania children under the age of five have all adults in their household in the labor force, high-quality child care is an essential workforce support.” However, due to high prices and limited child care slots, many families across the Commonwealth are not able to afford or access high-quality child care programs.

Early Learning PA continues on, stating, “Although the Governor’s budget proposal utilizes $15.3 million in federal funding toward child care subsidy base rates, this proposal will have no impact in addressing the list of children waiting to gain access to subsidized care or improve the quality of that care.” This, in turn, affects each caregiver’s ability to enter, re-enter, or remain in the workforce and the long-term academic, career, and health outcomes of young children. In Pennsylvania, 73 percent of eligible children under the age of five are not receiving high-quality child care services.

Interestingly, the lack of state investment is also a lack of response to the Governor’s own Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center report, just released last week identifying barriers to employment and providing recommendations for action by the governor, Pennsylvania General Assembly, and private sector. In the report, increasing access to affordable high-quality child care was a top priority for all three.

Take Action

The lack of state investments in child care isn’t only something worth talking about, it’s also an issue that worthy of advocacy. Join us as an advocate by sending a message urging the General Assembly to demonstrate their commitment to Pennsylvania’s youngest children, their families, and our economy by increasing state funding for high-quality child care! Our senators and representatives will need to hear from us through budget negotiations, and our message starts now.

Join us if you believe that all children in Pennsylvania deserve to start strong!

News

December 16, 2019

PDO Needs Assessment Survey: Upcoming Deadline

Early care and education professionals in southwestern Pennsylvania are being asked to take the Professional Development Organization (PDO) Needs Assessment Survey.

About

From now through December 31, 2019, PDOs are performing a needs assessment with early childhood professionals by region and will develop a strategic plan and timetable for each. The survey will take approximately 10 – 15 minutes. Responses will be used to finalize the work plan and timeline for the Southwest and other regions that Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania will serve. Following this period, community outreach will begin. Click here to take complete the survey.

During this transition, professionals who wish to obtain their Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential can find credit-bearing coursework through Westmoreland County Community College and Harrisburg Area Community College.

PDOs

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) announced the selection of its six regional PDOs in October 2019. The PDOs were created to coordinate and facilitate access to credit-bearing coursework and credentials for early care and education professionals in Pennsylvania. PDOs support direct access across each service region for the early childhood workforce to participate in continuing education through a mixed delivery model and coordinate with the Early Learning Resource Centers in improving the quality of early learning programs.

The regional PDO selection for the Southwest region is Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. The Shippensburg PDO also supports the Central, Northeast, and Northwest regions. See the regional PDO map here.

More Information

To learn more about PDOs, read the Pennsylvania Key’s announcement.

*Information provided by OCDEL 

News

August 7, 2019

Call It Child Care

News

March 15, 2019

ADP Symposium 2019: Multilingual and Multicultural Education for Young Children

Join Trying Together and the University of Pittsburgh School of Education for the annual ADP Symposium. This year’s topic is on multilingual and multicultural education in early childhood, featuring keynote presenter Dr. Beth Sondel from the University of Pittsburgh, and panelists Dr. Vincenne Revilla Beltran from Point Park University, Dr. Xia Chao from Duquesne University, Stephany McMullen from the AIU Latino Family Center, and Dr. Shannon Wanless from the University of Pittsburgh.

Monday, April 1, 2019
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
University of Pittsburgh
David Lawrence Hall

Purpose

This symposium aims to explore the importance of multilingual and multicultural education for young children and educate current and aspiring teachers and childcare workers on how to engage in multilingual and multicultural developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood classrooms. It also touches on building inclusive and diverse curricula for all classrooms. Pittsburgh is on the rise as one of the most diverse cities and has an increasing population of immigrant and refugee families over the past few years. This creates need for equal representation of languages and cultures in educational settings, and for this curriculum to be included in childcare institutions and homes.

Opportunity

By joining Trying Together—which serves young children and families in supporting education—and the Pitt School of Education, we see this as an opportunity for an open dialogue about educational growth for young children from the perspective of a culturally responsive approach. It will also promote awareness of the benefits of multilingual and multicultural education for young children, neurologically, psychologically, and socio-emotionally.

Register

This event is sold out and is no longer accepting registrations.

News

February 15, 2019

Response to Governor Wolf’s Budget Proposal

On Tuesday, February 5, Governor Tom Wolf presented his fiscal year 2019-20 budget proposal. In highlighting his plan to make the Pennsylvania workforce the strongest in the nation, he outlined several increases in early care and education programs, as well as his plans to spend over $101 million in federal child care funds. Governor Wolf’s proposal includes the following:


Child Care

  • $15 million in federal funds to provide subsidized child care for 970 additional infants/toddlers in STAR 3 and 4 programs.
  • $10 million in federal funds to provide a 28 percent increase to tiered reimbursement rates for STAR 2, 3 and 4 providers for infant/toddler care.
  • $2 million in federal funds to support an “Early Childhood Career Pathways Initiative” for education, training and professional supports for an apprenticeship, or work-based learning model for professionals serving infants/toddlers in early care and education programs.
  • $74 million in federal funds to provide a rate increase for subsidized providers for an increase in the minimum wage to $12/hour.

Today only one-third of subsidized children are accessing high-quality STAR 3 and 4 care, 4,300 children are on the subsidy waiting list, with families waiting 88 days to access subsidies they need to work, 50 percent of child care staff are receiving public assistance and child care subsidy reimbursements do not cover the cost of quality care. Trying Together, along with nine partner advocacy organizations, launched a new advocacy campaign last week – Start Strong PA – to turn those numbers around and increase access to high-quality child care for families so their infants and toddlers can grow, learn and succeed.

We are pleased to see the federal spending plan includes a waiting list initiative to serve more infants/toddlers in high-quality care and an increase in tiered reimbursement that will provide further program stability and consistency in teacher:child relationships. These are proposals for which we and partners advocated and align with our goals. We also believe the “career pathways” initiative will help to attract and retain talented early care and education teachers, another hallmark of the campaign.

Trying Together looks forward to learning more about Governor Wolf’s minimum wage proposal’s impact on the professionals in our field and the programs in which they work. While we appreciate the allocation of these critical federal dollars and again thank our federal delegation for strong, bipartisan support for high-quality child care, we are concerned with the lack of new state investments in this area.

Pre-K

  • $40 million for the Pre-K Counts program
  • $10 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program

This expansion would serve 5,500 additional young children.  

Today the commonwealth ranks 18th of the 30 states investing in high-quality, publicly-funded pre-k and with this investment 100,000 children still lack access. As a leading partner in the Pre-K for PA campaign, Trying Together is advocating that lawmakers fully-fund Governor Wolf’s proposal.

Evidence-Based Home Visiting

In addition, the budget proposal includes a $5 million investment in evidence-based home visiting programs to expand home visiting for 800 eligible families.

For more information on home visiting advocacy efforts go to www.childhoodbeginsathome.org.

Evidence-Based Early Intervention

There is a $15 million state funding increase proposed in the Department of Education budget and a $9.75 million increase in the Department of Human Services (DHS) budget for Early Intervention to continue to support the cost of children receiving services.

Trying Together commends Governor Wolf for his continued commitment to early care and education programs in the commonwealth and encourages a state investment be made in high-quality child care so we can provide children with the educational foundation they all deserve. We will advocate for these investments as the budget process continues. Stay up-to-date on how to advocate for these issues by signing-up to support Trying Together’s public policy agenda here.

News

January 16, 2019

Come Play!

Guided by the staff at Trying Together, Come Play! is an opportunity for family and group child care providers to bring their enrolled children for hands-on professional development.

Share this flyer with your networks.

News

October 10, 2018

Community Health Advocate Training Program for Fathers

The Community Health Advocate Training Program is a three-week training, one Saturday per week, that will prepare you to make lasting change in the health of families and communities! Take this opportunity to learn more about advocacy and community engagement, gain skills in self-care to help you be at your best to care for your family, and learn how to use your own experiences to make changes in your community.

You will receive:

  • 25 hours of paid training
  • Free meals and child care during the training
  • A netbook – yours to keep after the training

This program runs from November 3 – November 17. Space is limited. For more information, contact Shannon Lawhorn at (412) 723-1342.

Share this flyer with your networks.

News

August 2, 2018

Nontraditional Child Care Needs Survey Open

Do you need child care during “nontraditional” hours (6 p.m. – 6 a.m.)?

Femisphere and Trying Together invite you to take a survey that will inform a plan for education and advocacy around this topic.

All participants will be registered to win a $50 gift card.

What you can do:

Share this flyer with your networks. 

News

August 1, 2018

Certified Child Care Provider Renewals

Certified child care providers in Pennsylvania are subject to an annual inspection of their facility.

Upon completion of the inspection, the provider will be notified of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning’s findings on an inspection summary report. For more information on what to expect during the renewal inspection process, watch this video.

Families can use the Online Child Care Provider Search to review certification information about a provider, including the provider’s certificate status, verified complaints and inspection results.