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One Step Closer to Paid Parental Leave in Allegheny County

News

September 29, 2026

One Step Closer to Paid Parental Leave in Allegheny County

Paid parental leave is moving forward. The Allegheny County Board of Health approved an updated paid parental leave program that would require some businesses in Allegheny County to provide paid leave for new parents, including birth, foster, or adoption. 

Following a highly engaged community process, the health board used more-than 1,400 public comments to make changes to the proposal. 

Updated from the initial proposal, this policy would apply to businesses with 15 or more employees and would require them to provide at least 12 weeks of paid leave. 

What’s next for paid parental leave?

On Tuesday, October 6, the policy will be introduced to the Allegheny County Council and sent to the Health committee for review.

Council members can’t make any changes to the policy – they will vote on it as is. 

We are expecting the committee to approve it and send it back to the full council for a final vote on Tuesday, October 20. To be passed by the Allegheny County Council, the proposed paid parental leave changes would need majority approval – or eight votes – before moving on to be signed into law by County Executive Sara Innamorato. 

Paid Parental Leave Makes a Difference: Healthy Babies, Thriving Families, Stronger Workforce

We are committed to supporting the adult caregivers in young children’s lives and we support the paid parental leave proposal in Allegheny County. A true continuum of care and support for families and babies begins with paid parental leave and continues with the availability of high-quality infant child care. We urge the Allegheny County Council to adopt the policy. 

Paid parental leave helps businesses keep good employees and gives parents the time they need to care for a new child without having to lose their job or leave the workforce to care for their child. It gives children a healthier start by allowing parents to be there for important early moments, medical needs, and everyday care, forming critical bonds that support children across their entire lifetime. 

When families are stronger and parents can stay connected to work, everyone benefits—from individual businesses to our communities and the economy as a whole. 

Let your city council member know you support paid parental leave by sending an email encouraging them to vote in support of the policy.

What does the proposal include?

Although the amount of leave went down to 12 weeks from the proposed 18 weeks, the change aligns with existing precedent offered by most states with a parental leave policy.

The proposal also clarifies that the county’s parental leave policy would run at the same time with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), so employers would only be required to provide a maximum of 12 weeks of parental leave, and employees would receive job protection through FMLA and not have to take leave without being paid.

Businesses with less than 15 employees would be exempt, which aligns with the county’s proposed sick leave policy. This is designed to support small employers by exempting them from parental leave costs. However, it is recommended for small businesses to offer employees paid leave at a mutually-agreed range due to the cost of rehiring and the positive impacts on infant, maternal, familial, and community health.

Other elements of the proposal include:

  • Paid leave for parents with stillborn children.
  • Employees are eligible after 180 days (six months) of employment.
  • Employers would have up to one year before they have to comply with the policy once it’s signed into law, giving them time to strategize financially for the shift.
  • For part-time employees, an employer would not be responsible for a 40-hour-week pay rate; instead, the employer would pay an average similar to what they paid the employee in the six months prior to leave.
  • The proposed policy excludes seasonal or temporary employees and would require part-time workers to have worked at least 625 hours in the past six months to be eligible.

Our Continued Commitment to Child Care Providers

We acknowledge the unique operational and financial constraints that make implementing extended paid leave especially challenging for child care providers. As the next essential caregiving support following parental leave, we also continue to advocate at the local, state, and national level for all of the ways child care teachers and owners deserve to be supported. 

In our July 16 public comment to the Board of Health, we outlined a number of recommendations to support the child care sector. 

Read our full public comment on paid parental leave to learn more about our priorities and recommendations. 

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Remake Learning Includes 2 Trying Together Initiatives on List of Projects That Influenced Pittsburgh Education

News

Remake Learning Includes 2 Trying Together Initiatives on List of Projects That Influenced Pittsburgh Education

Two Trying Together initiatives made Remake Learning’s new report, The 57, which includes a collection of projects that have shaped Pittsburgh’s learning landscape.

Remake Learning Report

The report was part of Remake Learning’s 20th anniversary. Some of the projects on the list were one-time events, while others are permanent fixtures. They were created in classrooms, libraries, museums, maker spaces, parks, community centers, and other locations. Projects include everything from TV shows and toys to weather balloons and video games.

Remake Learning highlighted the following Trying Together initiatives: 

  • Message from Me: A child-led digital tool created with Carnegie Mellon University that lets young children share their daily school activities with families using photos and recorded audio
  • Ultimate Play Day: An event that transforms parks and public spaces into giant intergenerational playgrounds for all ages

Message From Me

Message from Me is a digital tool that helps children to communicate with their families about their daily activities and learning experiences by recording and sending photo and audio messages throughout the day.

Trying Together partnered with Carnegie Mellon’s CREATE lab to solve two challenges: children struggling to articulate their learning and families feeling disconnected. Early childhood advisory groups played a key role in shaping and strengthening the model over time.

The team developed and tested a prototype housed in a fiberglass kiosk equipped with a microphone and camera that children could use to photograph their work and record messages to family members. When iPads emerged, the program evolved into an app and improved accessibility. 

“When children were picked up from school, a parent would say, ‘I got your photo today! I saw you built a magnet-tile tower and counted 20 blocks,’” said Sue Polojac, the project’s co-lead. “Moments like these sparked conversations between children and their grown-ups about what the child had done at school that day.”

Ultimate Play Day

Ultimate Play Day is a celebration hosted by Trying Together’s Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative. The event brought families, educators, and community groups together for free play activities across Pittsburgh’s parks and public spaces, raising awareness of play as essential for learning, health, and human connection.

The collaborative worked with leaders from museums, parks, community groups, and early childhood organizations to plan the event. 

Ultimate Play Day helped communities to experience the benefits of play directly, rather than discussing them abstractly, Remake Learning explained in the report. It also reinforced that play supports learning, health, and connection throughout life, not just in early childhood.

To learn more about the two Trying Together projects and read more about the 55 others included in the report, check out Remake Learning’s The 57.

High Schoolers Explore Early Childhood Career Through Child Care 101 Program

News

September 16, 2026

High Schoolers Explore Early Childhood Career Through Child Care 101 Program

Through a partnership between Trying Together, Learn and Earn Homewood Children’s Village, and The Shady Lane School, high school students had the chance this summer to explore early childhood education as a future career.

Providing Real-World Experience

In its second year, Child Care 101: Learn and Earn is a six-week summer program for rising sophomores and seniors that provides hands-on learning, conversations with early childhood professionals, and real-world classroom experience at The Shady Lane School. The program gave the 10 participants in the program the opportunity to envision themselves in the field.

Over the course of six weeks, the program’s participants worked at Shady Lane and met on Fridays to explore topics, including an introduction to the early childhood field, child development, health and safety, engaging activities for young learners, and career pathways in early childhood education.

For one activity, students were broken up into small groups and given eight minutes to play with an item from Trying Together’s Lending Library. They then completed a worksheet where they had to decide for which ages the item would be appropriate, which areas of development it supported, and how many stars they would assign it based on whether they would like it in their own future classroom.

“It was fun to see the students grow over the course of the program, in terms of how they approached discussing behaviors from merely being bad to thinking about what the child might need and how educators can support them,” said Lindsey Vicoria, the Career Pathways program manager at Trying Together. “From day one, students were very curious and asked a lot of thought-provoking questions about working with young children.”

Vicoria said students shared in surveys taken at the end of the program that Child Care 101 made them consider careers in the field.

“It was great, the teacher was amazing, and after this I was thinking about being a part of childhood education as my career,” one student wrote.

Career Pathways Opportunities

To learn more about Trying Together’s professional development opportunities, check out our fall 2026 Professional Development Catalog. 

Courses offered this fall include professional development opportunities in the following areas:

  • Assessments and Supportive Services (Early Intervention)
  • Child Development
  • Classroom Environment
  • Curriculum Development
  • Family and Community Engagement
  • Guidance and Behavior Management
  • Health and Safety
  • Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)
  • Professionalism and Program Organization

Trying Together Names Blueprints Early Learning Director as September Advocate of the Month

News

September 15, 2026

Trying Together Names Blueprints Early Learning Director as September Advocate of the Month

Trying Together has selected Brenda Fronzaglio, the early learning director for Blueprints in Washington, as its September advocate of the month.

Learn More

Fronzaglio was nominated by Valerie Williams, Trying Together’s kindergarten transition program director, and Donna Shriver, owner of Smart Kids Child Care Learning Center.

“She truly understands that quality learning is the cornerstone for our young children,” said Shriver, who has partnered with Fronzaglio in advocacy efforts. “Brenda is committed and supportive to the children, families, and early childhood educators, and actively advocates for them.”

Fronzaglio said that she understands the importance of early childhood education because she benefited from it herself.

“As a Head Start graduate, I know firsthand that advocacy can change the course of a life,” she said. “Someone saw potential in me, they invested in me, and made sure I had access to opportunities that my family may not have been able to provide at that time. And because of that support, I entered school ready to learn and, most importantly, ready to believe in myself. When I hear the word advocacy, I don’t just think about speaking up for others – I think about the people who spoke up for me before I was able to speak up for myself.”

She said that advocacy is important to her because when she can share the difference that early care and education programs make in the lives of children and families, especially those who are most vulnerable, she is able to help others to understand why supporting such programs matters.

“Advocacy means making sure that every child, regardless of where they come from, has the chance to succeed,” Fronzaglio said.” It means giving families a voice and connecting them to resources they need to thrive. It means standing up for programs like Head Start that open doors and create opportunities for generations to come.”

Blueprints, which is part of the Community Action Network, connects people with tools, resources, and support, and its programs are designed to support families across all stages of life with early childhood education, financial and career support, housing stability, and services for older adults. Its no-cost early learning programs include Head Start, Early Head Start, and Pre-K Counts. Blueprints offers center- and home-based program options.

Help to Promote Reading Among Children During September’s National Literacy Month

News

September 9, 2026

Help to Promote Reading Among Children During September’s National Literacy Month

Although promoting early literacy is a year-round endeavor, September has been designated as National Literacy Month, during which educators and caregivers should encourage reading among children.

Learn More

Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning shared a message this week that families should spend at least 15 minutes per day reading, storytelling, singing, and taking part in conversation. 

OCDEL cited research showing that shared reading experiences help to strengthen vocabulary, comprehension, social-emotional development, and caregiver-child relationships while helping children prepare for school.

Children who are exposed to books and language early in life, according to OCDEL, are more likely to:

  • Develop strong language and communication skills
  • Build larger vocabularies
  • Strengthen listening and comprehension skills
  • Be prepared for kindergarten and future learning
  • Develop creativity and imagination
  • Foster a lifelong love of reading

OCDEL noted that it would share weekly tips and resources to help promote early literacy as part of National Literacy Month. 

Meanwhile, some other resources from Trying Together, Buzzword, and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to help celebrate the month include:

 

PA Promise for Children Provides 5 Promises Caregivers Can Make to Their Incoming Kindergartner

News

September 1, 2026

PA Promise for Children Provides 5 Promises Caregivers Can Make to Their Incoming Kindergartner

PA Promise for Children has released a list of five promises that caregivers can make to their incoming kindergartner to help ensure success in school.

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The list, which was included in PA Promise for Children’s latest Kindergarten Here I Come newsletter, covers everything from nutrition and hygiene to routines and reading.

The five promises on the list include:

  • I promise to make sure my child has a healthy, nutritious breakfast before school every day. This will give my child energy to stay focused and learn.
  • I promise to teach my child to practice good hygiene (like brushing teeth, bathing, wearing clean clothes). This will help my child feel better about him or herself.
  • I promise to teach my child good habits (like washing hands, covering nose and mouth to sneeze, closed mouth when chewing). This will help keep my child healthy and prevent spreading germs.
  • I promise to create a bedtime routine, making sure my child gets at least 10-12 hours of sleep each night. This will help my child be well rested and ready to learn.
  • I promise to read with my child every day. This will help my child recognize words and gives me quality time with my child.

More Resources

Working Together Webinar

News

August 28, 2026

Working Together Webinar

Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA will hold a Working Together Webinar on Thursday, September 17 to discuss a variety of topics, including Head Start and the state’s Child Care Staff Recruitment and Retention Program.

Learn More

Participants in the webinar include Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, Trying Together, Champions for Early Education, the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC), Pennsylvania Child Care Association, and Pennsylvania Head Start Association.

Some of the event’s topics will include:

  • Head Start update and opportunities to take action
  • Child Care Staff Recruitment and Retention Program
  • State legislation updates

The event will begin at 12:30 p.m. Those interested in attending the ZOOM webinar should register in advance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Trying Together Responds to Proposed Changes to Head Start Performance Standards

News

August 12, 2026

Trying Together Responds to Proposed Changes to Head Start Performance Standards

Trying Together encourages public comment from administrators, teachers, former Head Start children and families, caregivers, and community members regarding proposed changes to the Head Start Performance Standards by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Head Start Performance Standards

Head Start is a core part of the early care and education landscape across the nation, providing quality care and comprehensive support for children and families for more than 60 years. In addition to education, it provides physical and mental health support, family engagement, nutrition, and developmental screenings.

Last week, the HHS published proposed changes to the Head Start Performance Standards, which serve as the foundational regulations to provide guidance on how to implement the Head Start program’s comprehensive services. However, the changes are only in the proposal stage. Head Start programs should continue to operate as usual and not make any changes based on the proposed changes. 

It is important to note that the proposed changes are to the Head Start Performance Standards – not The Head Start Act, which is the law and can only be changed by Congress. The Performance Standards define the quality – and provide clarity and guidance for implementation – of services at the local level. The standards cannot reduce the quality, scope, or types of services in The Head Start Act.

Proposed Changes

The Head Start Performance Standards are based in child development science. Proposed changes would eliminate a majority of the standards, such as:

  • Removing the mention of standards related to health, mental health, oral health, and developmental screenings, including details about how to provide services, the timeline, and requirement for follow-up
  • Eliminating class size and staff-to-child ratios
  • Weakening parent voice and decision making in local programs
  • Making it more difficult for families to prove eligibility, which may result in a reduction of service to families experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, or immigrant families
  • Removing services for pregnant women, expectant families, and newborns
  • Reducing administrative cap from 15% to 5%, creating more burden for programs to operate 
  • Requiring teaching and learning to only be in English
  • Removing additional services for children with disabilities and the ban on suspension/expulsion

Trying Together’s Response

Trying Together is working with state and national partners to gain a better understanding of the proposed changes.

“Trying Together is concerned that the proposal weakens health, safety, and quality standards for Head Start and creates more challenges for programs to operate,” said Emily Neff, Trying Together’s director of public policy. “As we continue to hear about rising costs for families and challenges to find quality child care, efforts to dismantle core components of a quality care and education program like Head Start further worsen the child care crisis.”

Neff said any attempt to weaken health and safety standards raises concerns about the wellbeing of young children and the de-professionalization of the early childhood field. She added that proposed changes aim to increase classroom sizes to serve more children without increasing investments for the program as well as remove credentials for teachers and pathways for families to be decisionmakers in local programs.

“While HHS frames the proposed changes as providing more flexibility and reducing administrative burden, in reality it proposes a reduction in services, larger class sizes, and fewer staff – and, ultimately, will help to justify why less funding will be needed for programs to operate in our communities,” Neff said.

Trying Together will continue to provide updates and resources in the coming weeks about the proposed changes – including ways that educators and caregivers can voice their concerns. 

Review Period

The deadline to submit comments is Tuesday, October 6. Trying Together encourages former Head Start children and families, administrators, teachers, caregivers and parents, and concerned community members to provide comments.

Regulatory changes at the federal level go through a process known as Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Now that proposed changes have been made, anyone can comment during a 60-day period.

After the comment period, HHS must review and respond to comments before issuing a final rule. Changes only take effect after a final rule is published and an effective date is announced, which will likely take several months.

Trying Together’s policy team – and its partners at the Pennsylvania Head Start Association, Pre-K for PA, and Start Strong PA – will offer support and provide templates for public comment.

Further Resources

Safe Sleep in Child Care

News

August 5, 2026

Safe Sleep in Child Care

Trying Together will lead a class on how to create safer sleep environments for infants in early childhood education settings on Tuesday, August 18.

Learn More

Safe Sleep in Child Care is an online training that will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. PQAS and Act 48 hours will be available for attendees.

The class will teach participants to:

  • Recognize the risk factors associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
  • Implement safe sleep practices that meet current recommendations and licensing standards
  • Create a safe sleep environment that helps protects infants in your care

For more information, contact Anna Zettle at 814-262-0732, ext. 305, or azettle@thelearninglamp.org.

For more information, check out this flyer for the event.

Paid Family Leave: Good for Families, Good for Businesses

News

August 4, 2026

Paid Family Leave: Good for Families, Good for Businesses

As the conversation continues in Allegheny County around Paid Parental Leave, Trying Together reiterates its support for a county-wide, mandated paid parental leave policy of 18 weeks for birth, foster, and adoptive parents. We believe a true continuum of care begins with paid parental leave and continues with the availability of high-quality infant child care. 

As an early childhood nonprofit, we also recognize the impact on the child care sector and urge the Allegheny County Board of Health and the County to review and consider recommendations for a paid leave policy that supports the realities of child care programs.

What is Paid Parental Leave?

Paid Parental Leave is compensated time away from work for parents  to bond with a newborn, newly-adopted, or newly-fostered child. This includes paternity and maternity leave.

Paid Parental Leave is not a partisan policy. A recent article by Public Source highlighted just how far behind the United States is on this issue. Paid parental leave is mandated in more than 180 countries, including all 55 high-income countries. About a quarter of all countries offer 18 weeks or more and more than half of all wealthy countries do.   

The World Policy Center created a global map to demonstrate which countries mandate paid parental leave. 

In its article, Public Source notes that across the United States, support for paid parental leave continues to gain traction as American families and employers realize what other high-income countries have already confirmed: the economic, health, and social benefits of paid family leave are good for families and good for business. 

Paid Parental Leave is Good for Families

Parents are children’s first and most important teachers. The first few months of bonding with a new baby following a birth, adoption, or foster placement are essential to the health and wellness of the child and parents. This wellness is not just nice to have –  it translates to broader health, economic, and societal outcomes. 

It provides mothers the essential time required for physical recovery and healing following labor and delivery, and in some cases major abdominal surgery. Research shows a decrease in maternal and infant mortality and more time off is linked to longer breastfeeding periods, which strengthen a child’s immune system. Furthermore, access to leave is a proven intervention for protecting the mental health of mothers during the postpartum period. In the case of foster placement or adoption, paid parental leave offers additional mental health benefits with time for children to bond and develop trust with new parents. 

The financial aspects of growing a family should not create additional strain and stress during one of the most transformative milestones in life. The establishment of paid parental leave would ensure no parent has to choose between a medical appointment or a missed paycheck, and that they can be present during the most formative weeks without the threat of financial ruin.

Paid Parental Leave is Good for Businesses Of All Sizes

A National Bureau on Economic Research report shows that every $1,000 invested in paid parental leave produces an estimated $7,275 to $29,406 in net social benefits (such as immediate health outcomes to babies and mothers and future savings from boosted earnings and tax contributions), and that providing paid parental leave results in higher workforce participation, improved health outcomes, and increased lifetime earnings. Paid parental leave has also been shown to reduce turnover, functionally reducing costs to an organization.  

As noted by Public Source, the majority of businesses currently offering paid family leave programs in the United States tend to be large employers – but paid family leave can, and should, be a part of small business’ operations structure. Trying Together encourages small business owners to move beyond the question of whether it is possible, and towards what the right design is to make paid parental leave feasible for all employees in Allegheny County.

Successful current paid family leave programs across the United States all share one common thread of utilizing a social insurance model. In doing so, the cost burden is not the employer paying out-of-pocket dollar to dollar for every day missed, but rather is part of a shared pool similar to how unemployment insurance and disability insurance function. 

As Public Source reports, most states have been able to cover the costs of their parental leave policies with a payroll tax of less than 1%. Since payroll costs make up only a portion of a business’ total revenue, an average business should expect its costs to rise by less than 1%. When viewed from a cost perspective, this model is far less burdensome to a business than having to replace employees due to workplace policies that don’t support new parents. 

While we recognize the county is restricted in its ability to create a social insurance design through a new tax, we urge continued advocacy for the passage of the Family Care Act in the state. Senate Bill 906 proposes a state-run insurance program funded by employee payroll deductions capped at no more than 1% of a worker’s wage. House Bill 200 mandates that employers cover partial wage replacement for qualified employees, and proposes a grant program to help small businesses offset the costs.

Considerations for the Early Care and Education Sector

Child care providers overwhelmingly recognize the value of paid parental leave. However, there are unique operational and financial constraints that make implementing extended paid leave especially challenging. Child care programs operate with limited financial reserves while maintaining strict state-required staff-to-child ratios for the health and safety of young children. 

When a teacher takes extended leave, providers often must continue paying the employee while simultaneously paying overtime, hiring substitute staff, or reducing classroom capacity if qualified staff cannot be found. Unlike many businesses, child care programs cannot simply increase production or temporarily reduce staffing levels without affecting families’ access to care.

Trying Together recommends:

  • Adding an element of social or private insurance to support the implementation of the proposal and ensure a funding model and structure
  • Creating an option for child care programs/small businesses to buy into private group insurance
  • Developing and maintaining a county child care substitute pool to ensure programs remain staffed
  • Increasing the 30-day qualification requirement 
  • Considering a scaled approach for implementation
  • Educating the community on how the county policy will interact with other policies such as FMLA and short-term disability
  • Exploring a partnership with local philanthropy for funding support

Additionally, Trying Together continues to recommend that policymakers increase support for the systemic needs of the field, so that child care providers can be more financially secure and stabilized.

Those working in the field know very well that child care teachers are not simply babysitting or watching children. Their work is that of a skilled professional, deeply committed to supporting children during their most rapid period of brain development, which lays the foundation for all future learning and development. To create a sustainable pipeline of passionate, highly professional, and dedicated early childhood educators,  increased compensation and benefits such as paid parental leave are required.  

The question is not whether paid family leave should exist; it is asking how we can collectively implement it in a way that strengthens families without unintentionally weakening the child care system upon which those same families depend. Paid family leave and a strong child care system are complementary investments. Supporting child care providers during paid parental leave implementation ensures these two public priorities reinforce one another rather than compete. 

Learn More

To learn more about the currently proposed paid parental leave policy of Allegheny County, see Allegheny County’s Paid Parental Leave FAQ sheet.

To view the full public comments on the policy proposal, as submitted by Trying Together on July 10, including in-depth recommendations for the child care sector, please click here.