News

October 3, 2019

Generating Tax Revenue for Quality Early Care and Education

The political and policy relevance of early care and education—and support for its expanded funding—is on the rise. Now is a great time for early childhood leaders to consider a previously overlooked approach to raising funds: dedicated state and local tax revenue for early care and education. Join this webinar to hear an introduction to essential guiding questions and seven tax areas that state and local early childhood leaders can consider pursuing to expand and diversify public funding for early care and education.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the event webpage.

*Information provided by Build Initiative

News

September 27, 2019

Kindergarten Transition Strategies Highlighted in New Briefs

About

New America reported that in the 2019-20 school year, “approximately four million children will start kindergarten.” This period of early learning is critical, as research shows that access to high-quality early education increases children’s likelihood of going to college, saving for retirement, and living in wealthier neighborhoods.

Recognizing the need for better support, New America released two briefs highlighting opportunities for states, local education agencies (LEAs), and elementary schools to strengthen pre-k to kindergarten transitions and fund transition activities.

Moving into Kindergarten

Their first brief, Moving into Kindergarten: How Schools and Districts are Connecting the Steps for Children and Families, highlights actions that schools and districts can take to help ensure a smooth and stress-free transition into kindergarten for children and their caregivers. The highlighted approaches are currently taking place in districts across the country, with a range of models included to ensure an appropriate method based on a district’s current state of development.

Highlighted methods include:

    • increased data sharing between child care, pre-k programs, and kindergarten
    • professional development and planning across grades (more specifically, formal activities that bring adults together across childcare, pre-k, and kindergarten)
    • a focus on family engagement that emphasizes the importance of involvement in education, extends beyond a one-time activity and takes place prior to the start of kindergarten
    • activities for incoming kindergarten students that go beyond one-time events (such as a classroom visit) and prioritize students without access to pre-k

To read the full brief, visit the New America website.

Using Local, State, and Federal Dollars to Improve Pre-K to Kindergarten Transitions

New America’s second brief, Using Local, State, and Federal Dollars to Improve Pre-K to K Transitions, highlights the importance of a seamless transition between early learning programs and grade levels as well as effective policies and practices. With this, New American mentions that “there are a number of federal and state programs and other funding opportunities that can help support state and local efforts to improve pre-k to kindergarten transitions and alignment.”

Serving as a resource for state and local leaders, the brief examines:

    • Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
    • Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
    • Head Start Act
    • Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV)
    • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
    • Preschool Development Grant, Birth through Five (PDG B-5)
    • Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC)
    • Other Sources

Following this, the brief provides action recommendations for states, local education agencies, and elementary schools. Visit the New America website to learn more.

Local Initiatives

Are you interested in learning about the local pre-k and kindergarten landscape? Check out these initiatives:

    • Hi5 ensures that young children are school ready and promotes the importance of on-time kindergarten registration. Over the past seven years, this program has helped Allegheny County schools reach an impressive on-time kindergarten registration rate of 96 percent. To learn more, visit the Hi5 webpage.

Learn More

For more information, contact New America at 202.986.2700 or nyc@newamerica.org.

*Information provided by New America

News

August 9, 2019

Power to the Profession Task Force Seeks Feedback

The Power to the Profession (P2P) National Task Force recently shared their next decision cycle draft, encouraging review and response. These Decision Cycles address the resources, infrastructure, and accountability structures needed across states and systems to support a prepared, diverse, well-compensated early childhood education profession. The draft is available in English and Spanish.

About the Task Force

The Power to the Profession (P2P) Task Force, in collaboration with thousands of educators, individual stakeholders, and partner organizations, is working toward a bold and audacious vision for a unified early childhood education profession. This profession will have clear roles and responsibilities, professional cohesion, and commensurate compensation. This will ensure every child, beginning at birth, has the opportunity to benefit from high-quality early childhood education, delivered by an effective, diverse, well-prepared, and well-compensated workforce.

Read the Decision Cycles 7+8 Discussion Draft.

Provide Your Feedback

Feedback will be accepted through September 13, 2019, and should be submitted via the online survey. Additional written comments can be submitted via email at p2p@naeyc.org.

More Information

For questions, review the updated P2P Frequently Asked Questions. Community members are also invited to sign up for Virtual Office Hours to ask questions, give feedback, or explore how you can build on your work to advance the early childhood education profession.

*Information provided by the P2P Task Force

News

August 2, 2019

PA DHS Announces KinConnector Helpline

On August 1, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ (PA DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller and Aging Secretary Robert Torres announced a helpline for families in kinship care situations, including grandparents raising their grandchildren because of the opioid crisis.

About

The KinConnector helpline was created by Act 89 of 2018, which established a kinship navigator program for Pennsylvania. KinConnector will act as a bridge that helps families identify resources, including gaining access to local, state, and federal resources. The KinConnector helpline is staffed by Kinship Navigators–compassionate, knowledgeable social service professionals prepared to help families locate, understand, and access resources that may be able to help them. This helpline, however, is just the beginning. A website of resources is set to launch in late 2019.

KinConnector Helpline

KinConnector can be reached by calling 1.866.KIN.2111 (1.866.546.2111). Assistance is available Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Services

Examples of provided services include:

    • connecting caregivers to health, financial, and legal services,
    • connecting caregivers to training and parenting advice,
    • identifying local physical or behavioral services,
    • identifying support groups,
    • helping caregivers enroll a child in school,
    • helping caregivers apply for federal, state, and local benefits such as CHIP and Social Security,
    • and other services designed to support caregivers.

Why Kinship Matters

Kinship care is becoming more common in Pennsylvania, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or siblings often stepping in to fill the role of parents who are seeking treatment or, in the most tragic cases, have died from the disease of addiction. Kinship care guardians often make a selfless choice to care for a young relative and ensure they receive care and support from a family member they know and trust, even when processing their own emotions around their family’s situation.

Children being cared for by relatives are less likely to end up in foster care and will experience better outcomes when they are living with a relative or someone they know. KinConnector will help ease the burden on these families and give them the tools and resources they need to be successful.

More Information

For more information on resources available for kinship families and grandparents raising grandchildren, visit dhs.pa.gov.

Information provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

News

April 8, 2019

BreastFED: Breastfeeding Summit

Join Healthy Start for BreastFED, Pennsylvania’s only regional breastfeeding summit. BreastFED is a two-day regional symposium aimed at providing information from professionals and community experts locally, regionally, and nationally on innovative approaches to address the needs of mothers and lactation practitioners in this region.

Throughout the two days, participants will receive both clinical and community perspectives and will be able to share insights and experiences to move forward with best practices and groundbreaking methods to changing the culture of feeding our babies.

See the full agenda.

Continuing Education Units & Credits

CEU’s are available for:

  • Lactation
  • Nursing
  • Social Work
  • Midwifery

This summit is approved for a maximum of 10.75 continuing nursing education contact hours.  The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Learn More

To learn more about the summit and to register, visit the event website.

For any questions, contact Healthy Start by phone at 412.247.4009 or email at email@hsipgh.org.