Banner that reads: PEC BELL Project Newsletter
December 2020
2020's GREATEST HITS
Children in warm coats
Such a bizarre year, right? Looking forward to 2021.

But, together in partnership, we accomplished much. Click on the hyperlinked words below to see some of the best moments of 2020.

  • Here is a video thanking our friends at William Penn Foundation, Vanguard, and Reinvestment Fund for the support of sending Lakeshore activity kits to all children ages 0-5 in shelter during the summer.


  • PA Head Start State Collaboration Office awarded 59 family homeless shelters across PA technology grants, including many shelters in Philadelphia. Click to see the infographic.



  • We reported Head Start data on the prevalence of enrolled homeless children in PA and in the five counties that make up SE PA.

  • Yay Babies awards were given to family emergency housing provider Darlene Morris, the School District's Deborah Hartranft, and Office of Homeless Services' Fred Gigliotta.
  • All family emergency and transitional housing programs in BELL were granted mini-financial awards for their work, totally an $80,000 investment.
Take Action for Families
Mom and child eating a meal
Keep Early Learning Strong
The Start Strong PA, Pre-K for PA, and Childhood Begins At Home campaigns are working together to urge Governor Wolf to further stabilize our early learning continuum of services as part of his upcoming 2021-2022 state budget proposal. 
Send An Email Now to Urge U.S. Senators to support new COVID-19 relief package
Sen. Robert Casey
Dear Senator Casey:

I urge you to work to approve a COVID-19 relief bill that includes child care, housing, and education support.
Sen. Patrick Toomey
Dear Senator Toomey:

I urge you to work to approve a COVID-19 relief bill that includes child care, housing, and education support.
Home Visiting News
How do we increase equity in our programs? Register for January 15th Children's Work Group Conference
At the November 20th CWGEC Conference, we raised the question: how do we increase equity in our work that supports young children experiencing homelessness?

This will be the topic of our January 15th conference.

We will engage you to identify ways to increase equity.

In addition, Julia Reeves of the Philadelphia Office of Public Health will discussion the new "Philly Families CAN" pilot project. CAN hopes to increase the home visiting services system's ability to serve needy families, thus increasing equity.


In addition, PEC will present its new "Parents As Teachers" program. Homeless families have a limited ability to access home visiting, and PEC's PAT addresses that need.


And, fyi, there will not be a CWGEC Conference meeting in December.
Banner that reads Welcome to PEC's Parents as Teachers Enrollment Party
PEC's PAT Program
In November, Parents as Teachers kicked off the month celebrating PAT Day on November 8 with the Pennsylvania PAT Office!
On November 19th, PEC-PAT had our second virtual open enrollment party for parents and housing program staff! Participants learned about the Parents as Teachers evidenced-based home visiting model including the services provided to homeless families with children prenatal to three years of age. In the break-out rooms they had the opportunity to meet with a Parent Educator to see a parent-child interaction activity, learn about development-centered parenting, and understand the importance of family well-being.

When the groups reconvened, there was an informal discussion that answered the participants' questions. The participants agreed that the PAT home visiting program is needed because we meet families where they are.

Lastly, PAT ended the month on an exciting note as we officially enrolled our first family into the program! We look forward to the growth and collaborations to come in December!
Research and Analysis
Faces in a zoom meeting
BELL Presents to Connecticut Assoc. for Infant Mental Health
Roslyn Edwards, Joe Willard, and JJ Cutuli presented the BELL Project to the Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health annual meeting on November 19. We discussed how to connect the Homeless shelter and early childhood program systems work together to promote resilience for young children! We were delighted that 141 CT leaders heard about BELL. And, we thank Grace Whitney for inviting us.
Podcast on CWGEC's Conference on the Family Support Needs Assessment is Now Available
Our latest podcast features PA OCDEL's Karen Grimm-Thomas and CHOP Policy's Tara Dechert presenting the new Family Support Needs Assessment.

Recorded at the November 20th CWGEC Conference, Ms. Grimm-Thomas and Ms. Dechert were joined by Nurse-Family Partnership's Erin Blair and Maternity Care Coalition's Samia Bristow. Listen here.
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