The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is seeking Pennsylvania families and caregivers of children birth to age five to participate with the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Advisory Committee. The ECCS team seeks diverse parents and caregivers who have experiences with many aspects of maternal and early childhood services in Pennsylvania. Participants will have the opportunities to ensure their family voice is heard, valued and influential in decision making at the state level, as well as share their experiences with using services such as child care, Early Intervention, Home Visiting, local libraries, health care visits, etc. Honorarium and child care reimbursement will be provided.

Applications are being accepted through Feb. 15, 2023. Click here to share this opportunity with families and caregivers who may be interested.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE) Office of Commonwealth Libraries announced that Mel Fell by Corey R. Tabor has been named the 2023 PA One Book Early Literacy selection. In its 18th year, the Pennsylvania One Book program promotes the value and benefits of reading early and often to preschoolers. PA One Book is a statewide initiative that encourages family engagement through books and offers activities designed to build key language, literacy, and social skills.

Early childhood education professionals interested in attending college for Summer semesters that begin in May/June 2023 should apply to T.E.A.C.H. now! T.E.A.C.H. applications must be complete and submitted with all required documentation/ information by Friday, April 7, 2023, to be considered for the Summer 2023 semester. PACCA will continue to accept applications on an ongoing basis, however, incomplete applications and applications received after this date will not receive priority for consideration. NOTE: New scholarship awards for Summer 2023 semesters will be dependent upon funding availability at that time.

Interested applicants should also begin the college admissions process now and contact an ECE advisor at their intended college/university. This helps ensure scholarship applicants are admitted to their college/university and can register for courses if/when they receive a T.E.A.C.H. scholarship. T.E.A.C.H. can provide contact information for ECE advisors at partnering institutions if needed.

Need More Information? Click here to for details on eligibility, program requirements and to download a scholarship application. Questions? Click here to contact a T.E.A.C.H. Counselor.

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® PENNSYLVANIA is supported by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Pennsylvania’s Department of Education (PDE). For more information, visit dhs.pa.gov and education.pa.gov. 

Eligible providers who have not yet attended a PA Pre-K Counts Regional Meeting still have opportunities available. Regional networking are a means to coordinate and collaborate on required Requests for Application (RFA) items, such as community needs assessments and partnerships, which will be highly prioritized during the RFA process. Participation in at least one regional meeting is highly encouraged for any eligible applicant applying for a grant. Get info on the Regional Meetings and how to attend.

FY 2022-2023 is the last program year for the current five-year grant cycle of the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts (PA PKC) program. In the Spring of 2023, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will announce a full, competitive rebid. During the rebid, all eligible providers interested in receiving a grant must apply. It is important during the application process that eligible applicants fully understand the program regulations and expectations so that informed decisions can be made regarding whether to apply.

Next week (Feb. 10) is the first opportunity to join the PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) and Early Intervention Technical Assistance (EITA) for a series of webinars on language and literacy development. These webinars will provide a multitude of strategies and resources that can be used in the home or in the classroom. These one hour webinars will be offered for FREE from 1pm to 2pm on the dates listed below:

PQAS credit hours, Infant Toddler hours, and ACT48 hours available for these webinars. Get additional information on topics, credits, and registration. 

If your team has not been previously certified please complete the Team Application/Readiness Checklist by February 10, 2023. If your team is already certified and you would like to add team members to an active, existing team complete the Building Your Café Team Form by February 10, 2023.

Those with questions about the Be Strong Parent Café model or would like to discuss readiness to participate, can contact Rijelle Kraft at 717-763-1661, x221 or rkraft@csc.csiu.org.

The Feb. 17, 2023, deadline to submit an application for the Early Learning Resource Center Request for Applications is fast approaching. Information can be found here: PA - eMarketplace (state.pa.us)

2023

The State Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention is accepting submissions for the 2022 Ron Cowell Award for Excellence in Service to Young Children with Disabilities and their Families to recognize an individual who has had a significant impact on public policy, Early Intervention practices, or staff development. Past honorees include parents, service providers, advocates, local administrators and state leaders.

Click here to submit a nomination. All nominations are due by March 3, 2023. The award will be presented during the April 6, 2023 State ICC meeting. Nomination information and/or questions should be sent to Gina Federico at gfederico@pattan.net.

Join the webinar, Using Data to Advocate for Infants & Toddlers Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at 3:00 PM. This webinar will highlight work of the SchoolHouse Connection, the Pennsylvania Head Start State Collaboration Office, HopePHL (previously the People’s Emergency Center), and others who have been able to use state and local data on young children experiencing homelessness to influence state policy and practice.  Click here to register.

Starting in March 2023, there is an important change in the amount of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits recipients will be getting. Right now, SNAP benefits are paid in two payments during the month: regular SNAP benefit is paid in the first half of the month and an extra payment (known as an Emergency Allotment) is paid in the second half of the month. The extra payment in the second half of the month will stop after February 2023. This means that starting in March 2023, recipients will only receive one regular SNAP payment. This change is happening because of a change in federal law. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) wants to make sure families that need food assistance know when this change happens and where to go for help.

This change is automatic and will happen for everyone getting an Emergency Allotment.

Please share with the families you serve that information about SNAP Emergency Allotments is available at dhs.pa.gov/SNAPcares. Recipients can also use the free myCOMPASS PA mobile app to view their SNAP balance and transaction history in real time so they always know what they have and how much they received in SNAP benefits.

On Jan. 24, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced draft guidance for industry on action levels for lead in processed foods intended for babies and children under two years of age, to help reduce potential health effects in this vulnerable population from dietary exposure to lead. The proposed action levels would result in significant reductions in exposures to lead from food while ensuring availability of nutritious foods. Foods covered by the draft guidance, Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children, are those processed foods, such as food packaged in jars, pouches, tubs and boxes and intended for babies and young children less than two years old. Read more and get additional information about heavy metals in baby food. 

It’s easy to find out if you qualify. Use the EITC Assistant, available to answer questions about yourself and other family members to see if you qualify and estimate the amount of your credit.

EITC eligibility depends on several factors, including income and family size. If you don’t have a qualifying child and earned under $16,480 ($22,610 married filing jointly), find out if you qualify for a smaller credit, worth as much as $560. Don't guess about EITC eligibility use the EITC Assistant to find out if you do qualify for EITC, And, see what other tax credits are available. 

It’s easy to find free tax help to prepare and file your taxes. Use the VITA locator tool on IRS.GOV to find a volunteer site near you. Or, you can prepare and e-file your own taxes with brand-name software using IRS’s Free File. 

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs released Technical Assistance Implementation Guides that highlight a vision for serving all infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities and provide strategies and resources on implementing an equitable and comprehensive system that identifies, locates, and evaluates these infants and toddlers. These three new documents were introduced on a webinar, “Working Together to Support All Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities,” where speakers highlighted how federal and state agencies, local programs, and families can work together to support the growth and development of infants and toddlers with disabilities."

Families of color in disinvested neighborhoods in the U.S. were disproportionately harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring the need for early childhood and education programs serving these families to be strengthened and supported, researchers at New York University wrote in a new paper, Re-imagining Early Childhood Education and School Readiness for Children and Families of Color in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond, in the American Journal of Health Promotion. They called for more research to examine how the pandemic affected children’s development, especially in communities of color, and what supports are needed for families and educators to support children’s growth.

Thirty-eight percent of 3- and 4-year-olds in poverty in Pennsylvania enrolled in Head Start and eleven percent of children under 3 in poverty in Pennsylvania enrolled in Early Head Start, according to a new report which finds major equity issues including inexplicable state-by-state variations in access and quality for Head Start and Early Head Start even though these are federally funded programs that are required to follow common federal standards. These equity issues fundamentally arise from inadequate funding for the eligible population and are highlighted in NIEER’s State(s) of Head Start and Early Head Start 2022 report, and the newly released state profiles. 

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of the Chief Statistician recently released an initial set of recommended revisions proposed by the Federal Interagency Technical Working Group on Race and Ethnicity Standards (Working Group) to revise OMB’s 1997 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15). This work was undertaken to ensure that the standards better reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. population. This is one step closer to updating SPD 15, and there is still much work to be done.

The Working Group wants to hear directly from the American people. Interested stakeholders are encouraged to visit the Working Group’s new website, read the full Federal Register Notice, and participate in one of the Working Group’s virtual, bi-monthly listening sessions or upcoming public virtual town halls.

The public’s participation in this process will play a critical role in helping the Working Group improve the way Federal agencies safely and accurately collect and use information on the race and ethnicity of our diverse America. The Working Group’s website contains information on how to submit feedback on the initial proposals.  

Read more!

Start the New Year with healthy and nutritious meals for you and your family! Download the free Healthy and Fresh at Home cookbook from the Partnership for a Healthier America.

KidsGardening is offering a new monthly 6-part webinar series, Culturally Inclusive Teaching in the Garden, in partnership with the Clif Family Foundation. The no-cost series explores ways to celebrate and center culture through garden-based learning. The next webinar, Principles of Culturally Responsive Garden Education: Honoring Diversity and Inclusion, will be held Feb. 1, 2023, at 7:00 pm.

Engaging families of children with disabilities is essential to supporting children’s learning and development. Explore this collection from the Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC) to find resources to strengthen your relationships and partnerships with families of children with disabilities, from program entry through the transition to kindergarten.

Finding Your Way in PA is a Pennsylvania based mobile and desktop app designed to share services, resources, and information with young people and families, particularly those experiencing homelessness. While using the app, users can search for and request assistance with services and resources in their current location, local communities, and throughout PA to connect them with helpful supports. Learn more.

We often associate winter with dark nights, freezing temperatures, snow, and ice. In polar and temperate zones in the northern hemisphere, the winter season lasts from December through February. No matter what kind of weather you experience during the next couple months, consider adding these STEM activities from Project Learning Tree to your winter-themed lesson plans.

The January resources from Camille Catlett are now available. The January 2023 release of Natural Resources contains information about Using a Universal Design for Learning Framework to Enhance Engagement in the Early Childhood Classroom, Creating Inclusive Environments and Learning Experiences for Infants and Toddlers, and more. The January 2023 release of Baby Talk contains information about How to Communicate Effectively About Early Relational Health: What It Is and Why It Matters, Facilitating Self-Feeding in Babies with Feeding Challenges, and more.