News

April 7, 2020

Learning with Parents: Children on the Autism Spectrum and the Arts

Join Brazelton Touchpoints Center‘s Joshua Sparrow, MD for the premiere of Learning with Parents: Children on the Autism Spectrum and the Arts, featuring Elaine Hall, Founder of The Miracle Project, and Yudi Bennett, Co-Founder of Exceptional Minds.

About

In this webinar, participants will find out how – as mothers and entertainment industry professionals – Yudi and Elaine learned to not only listen to their children, but also give a voice to thousands of children with autism spectrum disorders and to help them discover their inner artists!

Registration

To register, visit the event webpage.

News

March 5, 2020

New Early Childhood Mental Health Survey Available

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) invites early childhood education professionals, family members, higher education staff, and mental, physical, and oral healthcare professionals to take a brief survey regarding their experiences and communications around early social-emotional development.

Survey results will be used to assist the Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMH) Project in developing tools for families and professionals to use in understanding and obtaining supports around early childhood social-emotional health.

Take the Survey

Click here to complete the survey. All surveys must be submitted by April 7, 2020.

More Information on Early Childhood Mental Health

For more information about the IECMH Project, visit the Pennsylvania Key website.

For more early childhood related news, please visit Trying Together’s News Section here.

*Information provided by The Pennsylvania Key

News

December 9, 2019

Project WET: Getting Little Feet WET

Project WET: Getting Little Feet WET is a workshop that provides early childhood educators with developmentally appropriate water-based curriculum and activities for their early childhood classrooms. This Project WET course is led by an approved professional development instructor and offers Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) hours.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to:

    • Properly utilize the Project WET educator guide as a curriculum reference;
    • Participate in four Project WET activities that can be utilized in an early childhood classroom; and
    • Walk away with at least 10 new ways to incorporate water into the early childhood classroom.

Register For Project WET: Getting Little Feet WET

To register and learn more, visit the Pennsylvania PD Registry website. A C2 level course, this Project WET workshop offers the following PQAS hours:

    • Principles of Child Growth & Development (1 Hour)
    • Social & Emotional Development (5 Hours)
    • Child Growth and Development (1 Hour)
    • Curriculum and Learning Experiences (5 Hours)

PD Registry Event ID: 306839

More Information

Please visit the Allegheny Land Trust website to schedule this workshop for your center or location and obtain pricing. Email Julie Travaglini at 412.741.2750 or jtravaglini@alleghenylandtrust.org for more information. For more events like this, click here.

*Information provided by The Pennsylvania Key

News

Project WET: Getting Little Feet WET

This Project WET workshop will provide early childhood educators with developmentally appropriate water-based curriculum and activities for their early childhood classrooms. PQAS hours offered.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to:

    • properly utilize the Project WET: Getting Little Feet WET educator guide as a curriculum reference;
    • participate in four Project WET activities that can be utilized in an early childhood classroom; and
    • walk away with at least 10 new ways to incorporate water into the early childhood classroom.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the Pennsylvania PD Registry website.

PD Registry Event ID: 306820

More Information

Please visit the Allegheny Land Trust website to schedule this workshop for your center or location and for pricing. Email Julie Travaglini at 412.741.2750 or jtravaglini@alleghenylandtrust.org for more information.

*Information provided by The Pennsylvania Key

News

August 15, 2019

Mobility Demonstration Project Seeks Feedback

The City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure has been working with a new consortium called the Pittsburgh Mobility Collective to increase mobility options, especially to and from public transit. With this, the City posted an online survey to receive early input and feedback from Pittsburgh community members.

About

Through the addition of electric scooters, electric bikes, rental cars, and carpooling services, the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Mobility Collective seek to expand local transportation options. Pittsburgh-native Ben Bear, Chief Business Officer of Spin, said: “while electric bikes should be available and stations with some services should be available in three to four months, electric scooters might take longer because changes need to be made in Pennsylvania law to allow them.”

To ensure accessibility and affordability in all of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods, a part of the proposal for this initiative involves “donating 10 cents from every trip to a special fund to help build infrastructure such as stations and to help people in disadvantaged areas use the system,” possibly including reduced rates and alternate payment methods.

To learn more, read the full article posted on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website.

Provide Your Feedback

While the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure has gathered a wide array of city and regional transportation plans, studies, and workshop feedback in pursuit of community needs and values, the Department is always looking to receive additional feedback from Pittsburgh community members.

To submit your feedback, complete the Mobility Demonstration Project: Early Input survey.

News

November 28, 2018

Film Screening | We Wear the Mask: The Hidden Faces of Women in Poverty

Join Just Films in their free screening of Pittsburgh filmmaker Tammy Thompson’s “We Wear the Mask.” After the screening, Thompson and the women featured in the documentary will participate in a panel discussion and Q&A session. This event is free and open to the public. Register here.

For any questions, contact Melody Harris via phone (412.365.1578) or email (m.harris@chatham.edu).

About the Film

“We Wear the Mask” powerfully represents the challenges for low-income women in Pittsburgh, and demonstrates the psychological effects of poverty. Women are disproportionately disadvantaged by growing economic inequality in our country and region. This evocative documentary follows three different women who have faced similar struggles, and illuminates the human impact of economic injustice through their stories.

Just Films

Just Films is brought to you by the Chatham University Women’s Institute, Gwen’s Girls, the Women and Girls Foundation, the Women’s Law Project, and YWCA Greater Pittsburgh.

Share their flyer with your networks.

News

November 20, 2018

KaBOOM! Announces Let’s Play Everywhere Challenge Winners

KaBOOM! recently announced the winners of the Let’s Play Everywhere Challenge. As part of the Challenge, 10 grantees in Allegheny County were selected to receive a combined total of $200,000 in prize funds. Trying Together is pleased to announce that the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative was awarded one of these grants for The Neighborhood Play Stop Project. Learn more about it and the other grantees below.

 

Challenge Winners

The Let’s Play Everywhere Challenge selected nine organizations as winners, with a total of ten ideas:

  1. Trying Together (Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative)
    • The Neighborhood Play Stop Project
  2. Glassport Community Outreach, Inc.
    • Families Will Go Gaga to Play GaGa
  3. Pittsburgh Fulton PTO
    • From Pittsburgh to Paris and Beyond!
  4. Garfield Jubilee Association, Inc.
    • James Sensory Park
  5. Grounded Strategies
    • MACS Discovery Walk
    • Race Me! Pitcairn Green Playce
  6. Community Forge
    • Number Mountain
  7. Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
    • Ping Pong in the Plaza
  8. UniversalWit
    • Play! to End Blight
  9. Focus on Renewal
    • POW! (Place of Wonder)

The Neighborhood Play Stop Project

The Neighborhood Play Stop Project will reimagine existing spaces within Hazelwood by using play stops to encourage community engagement and playful interaction. These play stops may be featured in public spaces near businesses and civic locations such as grocery stores, green spaces,  fire stations, and more. Conversations are underway to identify the finalized play stop locations.

Impact

By placing play stops in spaces that are not typically associated with play, this project will prompt community members of all ages to rethink their daily routines. For children, it’s an opportunity for imaginative play. For adults, it may be a space where they can take a mental break and play chess or engage in a calming playful activity. Similar to the Little Free Library movement, these play stops will be stewarded by various entities (the businesses where they are located, Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative member organizations, interested community members, etc.).

A Closer Look

Each stop will be based upon the common concept of play and will have playful interactive parts that relate to the location and the party stewarding the installation. For example, a stop outside a grocery store may include play items such as plastic fruits and vegetables to “purchase,” paper and pencils to create grocery lists, and laminated sheets of information about grocery store products.  However, if a stop is located outside of a fire department, their play items may include play items such as firefighter helmets, a mini fire drill tower, and fire safety facts.

Each stop will include a chalkboard with permanently affixed prompts for participants to write their thoughts. Prompts may include statement starters such as “When I play outside I like to…” or “At the grocery store I can find these colors…”

About the Challenge

The Let’s Play Everywhere Challenge is a design competition that took place in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania—presented by Keurig Dr. Pepper and KaBOOM!—to develop innovative ideas for making play easy and available for kids and families. This challenge is about creating opportunities for free, unstructured, unplanned play to ensure that all kids, no matter where they come from or where they live, get the active play they need to thrive.

Learn More

To learn more about the challenge winners and their ideas, read KaBOOM’s post.