October 30, 2020 How Educators Can Avoid Mental, Physical, and Emotional Exhaustion Are you interested in learning strategies to avoid exhaustion and burnout? Join Dr. Tina Boogren and Dr. Timothy Kanold on November 18 for “Attend to Your Well-Being: How Educators Can Avoid Mental, Physical, and Emotional Exhaustion.” About To counter the pressure, stress, and chaos around us, professionals need to practice healthy, practical habits, and routines of wellness and self-care. They also need to rise up to the expectations of taking care of students and their colleagues, amidst the challenges of this unprecedented school season. In this engaging, fun-filled webinar, Dr. Tina Boogren and Dr. Timothy Kanold will provide practical strategies to avoid exhaustion and burnout and give you the courage and permission to attend to a more balanced and joyful professional life! Time for questions will be provided. Registration This webinar is best suited for prek-12 teachers, librarians, and school and district leaders. To register, visit the EdWeb website.
August 31, 2020 Virtual Community of Practice Meetings Are you interested in discussing topics of interest and current trends with fellow professionals in the early childhood field? Join ELRC Region 5 for their virtual Community of Practice sessions! About Community of Practice sessions provide early learning professionals with opportunities to discuss topics of interest, current trends in the early childhood field, and offer insight and inspiration to their fellow professionals. In September, these virtual sessions will discuss the most current school-age care updates, information, trends, resources, and professional development opportunities. Participants will connect with out-of-school-time partners and professionals, and they will receive support as new or existing school-age care programs. The session will also focus on supporting virtual learning, daily schedules, and keeping the children engaged. Available Sessions Saturday, September 12: School-Age Care Updates 10 a.m. | Zoom Meetings | Attend the Session Thursday, September 17: School-Age Care Updates 10 a.m. | Zoom Meetings | Attend the Session 1 p.m. | Zoom Meetings | Attend the Session More Information For questions, contact ELRC Region 5 at elrc5@alleghenycounty.us or 412.350.3577. Share this flyer with your network.
June 3, 2019 The 10th Annual PA Infant Mental Health Conference Join the Pennsylvania Association for Infant Mental Health (PA-AIMH) on August 1 and 2 for the 10th Annual PA Infant Mental Health Conference. Keynote Topics PA-AIMH strives to provide a meaningful professional learning environment for all cross-sector professionals working with very young children and their families. Keynote topics will include: Infant and early childhood mental health-focused policy and messaging; Clinical interventions; Disaster and critical incident response; and Reflective supervision and practice. PQAS and Act 48 credits available for professionals in the Early Childhood Education system. Keynote Speakers Jordana Ash, LCSW, IMH-E Director of Early Childhood Mental Health Director, State of Colorado Sherryl Scott Heller, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Tulane University Joy Osofsky, Ph.D. Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Public Health Head, Division of Pediatric Mental Health, Louisiana State University Christopher Watson, Ph.D., IMH-E Director of the Center for Reflective Practice at the Center for Early Education and Development, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Registration To register, visit the event website. Registration cost: Member: $315 General: $350 More Information For more information, visit the event website. For questions, contact PA-AIMH via email at pa-aimh@pa.-aimh.org.
Implicit Bias, Cultural Humility, & Parent Engagement Workshop Join the Partnerships for Family Support Office of Child Development on June 27 for their Implicit Bias, Cultural Humility, & Parent Engagement workshop. This training is for staff of centers in the Allegheny County Family Support Network. About This interactive workshop explores various strength-based strategies to increase immigrant and refugee parent engagement. Participants attending this training will have the opportunity to reflect on their current practice, understand and apply the cultural humility perspective when designing and implementing parenting activities, and identify specific steps to enhance their knowledge and skills in working with diverse families. Learning Objectives Participants will: Reflect on how social stereotypes impact their work with immigrant and refugee families; Apply a cultural humility perspective to analyze scenarios and propose solutions that respond to the characteristics and interests of immigrant/refugee families; and Discover key strategies and best practices to develop relationships with diverse families, support families in their parenting, and advocate with them for culturally relevant services and resources. More Information To learn more and register, visit the Eventbrite page.
APOST Summer Conference for Out-of-School Time Join Allegheny Partners for Out-of-School-Time (APOST) on June 14 for their Summer Conference for Out-of-School Time. PQAS/Act 48 credit available upon request. About The APOST Summer Conference for Out-of-School Time is a professional development conference that shares best practices in youth development. This conference is open to youth practitioners who desire to increase their skills in working with youth in out-of-school time programs or in mentoring relationships. This year’s event will feature Keynote Speaker Timothy Jones, an expert in youth development and hip-hop culture/pedagogy who has developed, implemented, and evaluated out-of-school time programs inside and outside of schools for over 20 years. Limited free parking is available, but carpooling is recommended. More Information To learn more and register, visit APOST’s Eventbrite page. For questions, contact APOST via phone at 412.456.6876.
May 9, 2019 Historic Increases for Early Learning & Development Programs The House Appropriations Committee recently approved the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill for FY2020, which outlines funding for early care and learning programs critical to babies’ development. The first three years are a time in development unmatched by any other later point in life. But the recently released State of Babies Yearbook: 2019 reveals troubling early warning signs that too many young children face conditions that place their development – and our future – at risk. About the Bill The bill includes historic increases to key early learning and development programs that can help to reverse this path we have set for our future, including: An increase of $2.4 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant; $525 million increase in the set-aside for the expansion of Early Head Start, including through EHS-Child Care Partnerships; Doubling of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Grant Program, to a total of $10 million; and An increase of $21.3 million for Part C Early Intervention. By laying the foundation today for 12 million infants and toddlers living in the U.S., we are investing in our society’s future. Learn More To learn more, see Zero to Three’s full statement. *Information provided by Zero to Three
May 8, 2019 Behaviors: Ours & Theirs | WCCC Mini-Conference On behalf of OCDEL and hosted by WCCC’s Early Childhood Education/Pre-K – Grade 4 Program, the “Behaviors: Ours & Theirs” mini-conference will focus on improving practitioners’ knowledge and skill to support children’s social and emotional development through culturally relevant practices, as well as exploring how to apply these skills to practitioners’ CQI plans. About Early childhood professionals are invited to attend a personalized mini-conference experience. Attendees will split into two groups and presenters will offer each session two times so that each group will have an opportunity to participate in both sessions. Participants will be provided with a continental breakfast, welcome and introduction, two educational sessions (each including a bound notebook of instructional materials), and a tour of WCCC’s NAEYC accredited Campus Children’s center. This event includes 3 credit hours; PQAS approved. Participants should be familiar with the ECERS and other Keystone STARS CQI tools such as CLASS, PAS, and Good, Better Best. Learning Objectives Attendees will be able to: Discuss and recognize positive observation and interactions with children and families, Examine and organize their understanding of culture and how positive interactions can lead to solid relationships with children and families, Review commonly used Keystone STARS CQI tools to determine areas where changes or improvements can be made in their programs, Explain why these changes will enhance the positive social and emotional development of children, and Discuss how these changes will also help them recognize and value cultural diversity. Registration To register for this event, visit the registration document! Registration is required and is $15 for the first 50 registrants! This fee is due (paid by check) on the day of the event, June 1, 2019. To learn more about the event, visit the PD Registry website. Questions For questions, contact Vicki Hricik at hricikv@westmoreland.edu or 724.925.4023. Share this flyer with your network.
April 9, 2019 Month of the Young Child: Celebrating Early Childhood With Trying Together having designated April as the Month of the Young Child (MOYC), Kidsburgh asked Executive Director Cara Ciminillo to explain why access to high-quality early childhood care and education is so vital for our youngest generation. Overview In the article, Ciminillo explains why access to early learning and care is critical and moves on to discuss the roles of advocacy, policy, and investments. Identifying connections to Trying Together’s public policy agenda, Ciminillo explains that by successfully advocating for increased investments in early childhood, we’re working to ensure that all young children have access to affordable, high-quality programs; that all early childhood professionals are being compensated appropriately; and that all early childhood programs have access to the support they need to provide high-quality services. Article To read the full article, visit Kidsburgh’s website!
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.
April 5, 2019 Learning to Listen: Webinar Series Join Brazelton Touchpoints Center for the Learning to Listen webinar series, as they celebrate Dr. Brazelton’s enduring legacy by learning from other masterful communicators about what children and parents have taught them through the power of listening. Available Times & Topics The series includes three webinars: Apr 17, 2019, 3:00 PM: Learning to Listen to Fear: How to Help Young Children Heal from the Unspeakable May 21, 2019, 2:00 PM: Listen With More than Our Ears: Helping Children through Simple, Ordinary Interactions Jun 4, 2019, 12:00 PM: Topic Name Not Listed To register for these webinars, visit their registration page. About T. Berry Brazelton, MD T. Berry Brazelton, MD (1918 – 2018) foresaw the many new challenges facing families today, including the interference of social media and digital technology with family relationships and child development, and their polarizing effects on public debate. Brazelton was a master of the kind of observation and listening so desperately needed today, and helped generations of parents and professionals around the world to learn to listen to babies, children and to each other.
