New PA 2025-26 Budget to Expand and Support Pennsylvania's Child Care Workforce

The Shapiro Administration is highlighting new investments for the early learning and childcare workforce in the 2025-26 state budget.

These investments, such as a new $25 million recruitment and retention program, will help Pennsylvania recruit and retain childcare workers, expand access to quality care, and ensure more parents can stay in the workforce and provide for their families.

These updates are expected to support approximately 55,000 childcare workers beginning in early 2026.

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Drexel After-School Program Integrates STEM and the Arts

Black Girls STEAMing Through Dance is offering after-school classes, training for teachers, workshops and seasonal camps throughout Philadelphia for elementary and middle school students.

The organization also integrates the arts into workshops and lessons, promoting creativity and artistic expression into schoolwork and design.  

WHYY highlights how this program is encouraging and enabling young students to explore STEM topics from a hands-on and multifaceted approach. 

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Thomas Jefferson University Unveils $1.8 Million Market Research Lab

Thomas Jefferson University has unveiled a new $1.4 million market research lab, allowing students to access live data for market analysis.

Funded by university alum and philanthropist John Thackrah, this school of business-based lab will prepare students for jobs in AI-driven industries and bringing new live data to the finance sector.

The lab will also host the JeffInvest Club, which meets weekly to invest $1,000 into stocks based on collaboration and research between students. 



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US State-by-State Data on Demand, Cost, Licensing, and Policies for Early Child Care

Across the nation, there are differences in costs of infant and toddler ECE and licensing requirements on the state level.

Variation also exists in the types of policies that states are implementing for expanding and improving supply and quality of infant and toddler ECE.

The Urban Institute discusses state-to-state findings and variability in demand for care. 

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Nicol Turner Lee on the Global Race for AI, Local Impacts, Community Oversight

Rural communities are becoming increasingly appealing sites for data centers and AI expansion.

However, there are several economic development trade-offs and environmental factors to consider when finding space for data centers in rural areas.

Nicol Turner Lee, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, director of Brookings’ Center for Technology Innovation, and founder of the AI Equity Lab, discusses what’s driving AI-era data center expansion, how federal and state policies shape local control, and how rural communities can secure transparent, durable benefits. 

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High School Students Learn Trade Skills Building Affordable Housing in Colorado

The Boulder Valley School District hosts a factory with support from federal, state and private foundation grants and loans to give students trade skills while contributing to housing solutions.

Partnering with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, students get course credit and hands-on experience building affordable houses.

A report published this year by the American Institute of Constructors states that the United States will need more than 500,000 skilled construction workers in the coming years to address demand for housing and other infrastructure projects.



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