Trying Together traveled with 40 early childhood education teachers and administrators as well as caregivers of young children to Harrisburg on Tuesday, June 9 to meet with policymakers and advocate for investments in the early care and education workforce in the 2026-27 budget.
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The teachers, administrators, and parents represented five counties – Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Beaver – and were members of Trying Together’s advocacy fellowship program. They met with their state representatives and senators to tell their early childhood education stories.
“Early care and education is a critical issue for families and economic development in every community – rural, suburban, and urban alike,” said Emily Neff, Trying Together’s director of public policy. “The fact that nearly 40 early childhood educators from five counties traveled to Harrisburg and back in a single day demonstrates the urgency of this issue.”
Neff said the group met with policymakers from both parties and both chambers – a total of 19 state representatives and 10 senators – to advocate for increased investments in child care, pre-k, and early intervention in the state budget.
“There is no way around it: continued public investment in early care and education is essential,” Neff said.
Meetings with Policymakers
The group discussed with policymakers the importance of including proposed investments in the early care and education workforce in the 2026-27 state budget, including:
- A $10 million increase for the Child Care Staff Recruitment and Retention Program
- A $2 million increase for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program
- A $7.5 million increase for Pre-K Counts
Participants in the day of advocacy said it was a positive experience. Anna Dolter, a Pittsburgh Public Schools pre-k teacher, said the trip was her first time to Harrisburg. She met with state Reps. Dan Frankel (D-23rd) and Lindsay Powell (D-21st) and state Sen. Jay Costa (D-43rd).
“My message to them was the importance of early education and keeping it accessible and equitable to all families in our city and state,” she said. “It was good to meet with representatives, so we can take information back to our colleagues in terms of what we can do to advocate to get early education in the budget.”
Wes Garis, the senior director of professional and child development at Braddock’s Heritage Community Initiatives, said his job involves supporting educators and providing classroom support.
“I’ve tried to bolster recruitment and retention, but we need to have teachers long enough to grow them and keep them in the field,” he said.
He said although some of the policymakers he met with on Tuesday were already on board with proposed investments, he thought it was important to provide them with context.
“It was good that we did it as a group,” he said. “We had our stories bounce off each other – it shows the connection and makes the stories and data come to life.”
Dayna Jones, the owner and CEO of Highland Park’s Simply Kidz Zone Early Learning Center, said that the trip to Harrisburg was a great opportunity to advocate for investments to the field.
“I wanted to advocate that we struggle with financially supporting our staff to be able to embrace high-quality child care,” she said. “We want to pay staff what they deserve and allow parents to be able to afford child care and be able to work. We want to send a message that (early childhood educators) are essential. I don’t think child care is taken seriously enough.”
The group met with state Reps. Dan Frankel (D-23rd), Lindsay Powell (D-21st), Eric Nelson (R-57th), Daniel Deasy (D-27th), Arvind Venkat (D-30th), Timothy J. O’Neal (R-48th), Joshua Kail (R-15th), Jim Rigby (R-71st), Jessica Benham (D-36th), Aerion Abney (D-19th), Andrew Kuzma (R-39th), Emily Kinkead (D-20th), Bud Cook (R-49th), Natalie Mihalek (R-40th), Eric Davanzo (R-58th), and Anita Kulik (D-50th), La’Tasha Mayes (D-24th), Mandy Steele (D-33rd), and John Inglis III (D-38th), and state Sens. Jay Costa (D-43rd), Kim Ward (R-39th), Joe Pittman (R-41st), Camera Bartolotta (R-46th), Wayne Fontana (D-42nd), Elder Vogel (R-47th), Patrick Stefano (R-32nd), Lindsey Williams (D-38th), Wayne Langerholc (R-35th), and Devlin Robinson (R-37th).
