November is National Family Engagement Month, which recognizes the important role that family members play as a child’s first, longest-lasting, and most important teachers, advocates, and nurturers.
To commemorate the month, caregivers can utilize a variety of Trying Together resources that help families to navigate early childhood, including the Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center, the Developmentally Appropriate Parenting (DAP) series, and the Early Intervention (EI) Toolkit.
Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center
The Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center supports the early learning needs of young children, families, and early educators in Homewood. The center offers developmentally appropriate activities for children, from birth to age 9; individual and group support for caregivers to set and meet goals for their family; and professional growth opportunities for center-, family-, and home-based early learning programs and relative providers.
The Hub, located at 7219 Kelly Street, offers a variety of weekly activities and programs, including:
Other resources at the Hub include a diaper bank, formula bank, walk-in clothing distribution center, and 412 Food Rescue. For more information, visit the Hub’s web page.
DAP Series
Evidence-based research shows that children’s brains develop rapidly from birth to age 5. Through consistent and caring daily interactions with their children, caregivers are able to build healthy relationships with and best support the early development and learning of their children.
Trying Together developed the Developmentally-Appropriate Parenting (DAP) family resource content series as an effort to empower caregivers to create high-quality experiences at the earliest stages of their child’s life.
The 12-part series covers such topics as childhood physical health, Early Intervention, social-emotional development, mental health, race and equity, gender and gender identity, and family dynamics, among other topics.
To view all 12 parts of the series, visit the DAP web page.
Early Intervention Toolkit
Early Intervention (EI) partners with parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators to provide services and support to young children with – or at risk of – developmental delays or disabilities. EI is collaborative and involves listening, discussing, sharing information, modeling strategies, building relationships, and coaching.
Trying Together developed its EI Toolkit for early care and education (ECE) programs in Allegheny County and the children and families they serve.
The goals of the toolkit are to increase mutual understanding between ECE programs and EI services, and to strengthen the collaborative relationship between ECE professionals, EI professionals, and families.
Those who utilize the toolkit will be able to explore and print out resources, such as:
- An introduction to early intervention
- How to connect families with EI
- ECE and EI collaboration
- Inclusive ECE environments
- Additional resources
