Early Intervention Birth-3 (negative supplemental of $27.958 million, total 2020-21 appropriation of $150.469 million; AND increase of $22.188 million, total 2021-22 appropriation of $172.657 million)

Child Care Services (level-funded, total appropriation of $156.482 million) to support low income families.

Child Care Assistance (level-funded, total appropriation of $109.885 million) to support families receiving TANF, Former TANF and SNAP benefits.

Community-Based Family Centers (level-funded, total appropriation $19.558 million) to continue Family Support, Evidence Based Home Visiting, Family Centers, and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood services for approximately 10,500 families.

Nurse Family Partnership (increase of $132,000, total appropriation of $13.131 million) to adjust for a decrease in the estimated FMAP savings and continue Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) Evidence Based Home Visiting services for approximately 2,831 pregnant women and families.

In addition, in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, the home visiting programs received $80,000, $90,000 and $47,000, respectively, to support the enhanced FMAP rate. 

·    $25 million to serve an additional 2,800 children.

·    $5 million to serve an additional 471 children.

Preschool Early Intervention, 3-5 (increase of $11 million, total appropriation of $336.5 million) to serve an additional 2,000 children or 63,000 total children. 

The Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan provides the largest Child Tax Credit ever and historic relief to the most working families ever – and most families will automatically receive monthly payments without having to take any action. Funds will begin distribution as early as July 15, 2021.

Low-income families with children are eligible for this crucial tax relief – including those who have not made enough money to be required to file taxes. For those with children, the American Rescue Plan increased the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of six and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of six, and raised the age limit from 16 to 17. All working families will get the full credit if they make up to $150,000 for a couple or $112,500 for a family with a single parent (also called Head of Household). Get more information to share with families.

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), Bureau of Early Learning Policy and Professional Development and Bureau of Certification, have released the Announcement C-21-04, Best Practices for Child Care Facilities Operating During the Novel Coronavirus. The purpose of this Announcement is to provide certified child care facilities with the best practices for operating a facility during the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It also provides certified child care facilities with guidance on how to handle a positive COVID-19 case or exposure to a positive COVID-19 case in child care facilities. The Announcement clarifies ongoing requirements and recommendations. Providers are strongly encouraged to adhere to CDC guidance in order to continue to protect the health and safety of children in care because they are not eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) plans to use the combined federal funds, American Rescue Plan Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C & Home and Community Based Services Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for Medicaid (HCBS FMAP) increase to support a three percent rate increase across all rates for Infant/Toddler Early Intervention services. This will also allow all providers of Early Intervention (EI) services, including EI services that are county negotiated, to receive the three percent rate increase for services. OCDEL anticipates the three percent rate increase will be supported by these two federal increases through March 2024. This three percent increase is time limited and will end.

For more information, please see the Announcement: EI-21 #02, 2021/2022 Rate Increase Distribution Plan for Infant Toddler Early Intervention or Early Intervention Fee Schedule Rates FY 21-22.

Pennsylvania families are needed to support and impact early childhood education coursework that is provided at colleges and universities across Pennsylvania. Family members who have young children who are currently enrolled in child care, Head Start or Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts are invited to apply to be part this cohort, supported by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL). This cohort will be provided opportunities to connect with college and university early childhood professors to provide a family perspective. Family members will be compensated (paid) for their time and reimbursed for travel and child care expenses. Application Deadline: July 9, 2021. Get more info.

July 19, 2021, is the deadline for applications for the Children's Trust Fund (CTF). The CTF grants promote community-based primary and secondary child abuse and neglect prevention programs throughout the Commonwealth. Any organization located and operating in Pennsylvania that provides direct services and meets the criteria in this Request for Applications (RFA) is eligible to apply for a CTF grant. Get more information.

More information on the roles and responsibilities of committee members, and the application, can be found here (scroll to the bottom of the webpage). Direct questions to Deb Wise at dewise@pa.gov.  

Early childhood educators, your input is requested in the Early Learning Resource Centers (ELRCs) Listening Session. The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is seeking stakeholder input related to the ELRC model. What is working with ELRCs? Are there gaps in the current system of ELRCs? Early childhood education professionals are invited to share their perspectives about Pennsylvania’s ELRCs during listening sessions throughout July and August. Stakeholders are welcome to participate in the session that best fits their schedule, however special sessions for family child care, group child care and school age child care programs are available. Register now to participate in a listening session.

On Oct. 1, 2021, the process for STARS pre-designation and designation applications will be in the PD Registry. Free Virtual Training on the new Keystone STARS designation process will be available soon. What can early childhood education professionals do in the PD Registry now to prepare?

These and additional videos are also available by logging into the PD Registry and selecting Video Library from the left menu bar.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, child care providers must pivot quickly and make changes to their policies and procedures, specifically those targeting health and safety, to protect children and themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic has also created a need for increased attention to the mental health and well-being of both children and adults.

More than 9,000 Pennsylvania early childhood education professionals have thus far completed the free professional development module, COVID-19: Protecting Children and Ourselves, from Better Kid Care. This module provides information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines specific to child care programs and offers insight into trauma-informed approaches to meet the current needs of children and their caregivers. (K7 C1, CDA1) 4 hours.

Pennsylvania child care providers and schools can take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the free program to help them identify and address potentially harmful lead exposure to children.

Learn more about this program and enroll via LeadFree.pa.gov. Visit PENNVEST’s Contact Us webpage to connect with their team and request answers to questions prior to enrolling.

The Pennsylvania Child Care Association (PACCA) and Start Strong Campaign co-hosted a recognition event for 93 recent T.E.A.C.H. Graduates. PACCA invited graduates from the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, along with their sponsoring employers, legislators and other early childhood education stakeholders to celebrate and recognize their achievements.

Sixty people attended the event, including some legislators and their staff. Tracey Campanini, OCDEL Deputy Secretary shared a congratulatory video message. A recording of the entire event is available.

Congratulations to all of the recent early childhood education graduates across Pennsylvania!

PACCA is currently accepting T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship Applications for the Fall 2021 Semester. ECE Professionals interested in attending college in the Fall 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, July 9, 2021, to be considered for an award. For more information visit the PACCA website.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has posted RFA 67-129 for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly referred to as WIC in the following counties: Adams; Bedford; Berks; Blair; Bucks; Cambria; Cameron; Centre; Clarion; Clearfield; Clinton; Crawford; Forest; Fulton; Huntingdon; Jefferson; Lycoming; Mercer; Potter; Venango; and Warren.

The Department is seeking applicants interested in serving these communities and capable of providing WIC services as part of a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, state of the art health and social service system and plans to enter into grant agreements starting October 1, 2022. Awarded applicants will collaborate with incumbent providers to transition services during periods occurring 3 to 12 months prior to the grant agreement start date, to assure smooth and uninterrupted services for WIC participants. Application deadline July 26, 2021.

The Little Seeds Pollinator Pals Grant presented by Little Seeds and KidsGardening is designed to support youth garden programs interested in preserving and creating pollinator habitat to help rebuild declining pollinator populations. In 2021, eighteen programs will be awarded a check for $500 to support the development of new and expansion of existing pollinator gardens in communities across the United States. Any nonprofit organization, public or private school, or youth program in the United States serving at least 15 youth between the ages of two and 14 is eligible to apply. Programs must be planning a new pollinator garden or expanding an existing one designed to teach youth about the importance of pollinators. Applications are due July 30, 2021.

Child Development Accounts (CDAs), like Keystone Scholars, provide tangible hope and a sense of security to families and their children, and provides a fair start for all children. Research shows children in lower income households, with an education savings account, even with less than $500 in it, are three times more likely to enroll in a 2- or 4-year college and four times more likely to graduate.

CDAs increase the amount of assets families have to finance postsecondary education, but their benefits go far beyond the financial. Just by knowing the account is there, CDAs influence parental attitudes and expectations for their children’s future. In addition, they have been found to reduce maternal depression and improve parenting practices and involvement, particularly among mothers in lower income households. All of this in turn positively impacts child social-emotional development as well as performance in grade school. What’s more is the benefits of CDAs have been found to be even greater among children living in lower income households. In addition, when offered together with social services, the benefits of CDAs are amplified. 

For free materials to share information on Keystone Scholars and the Bright Future Booster to families, check out the Treasury Resource page. Treasury also offers webinars for families. 

A new guide, Using Every Student Succeeds Act Funds for Early Childhood, was created by the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University, Education Counsel, the Erikson Institute, Start Early, and Foresight Law + Policy, explains how school districts can use federal funds provided through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to bolster early childhood education. The guide also applies to the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program (ESSER) funded through recent COVID-19 packages.

A new report, Philadelphia Early Learning Community Speaks Out: An Action Plan for Quality Improvement, includes input from more than 300 Philadelphia providers, 16 quality improvement organizations, and 4 public and private funders, and offers recommendations for quality improvement in Philadelphia child care centers, home-based child care, and pre-K programs.

Public and private funders support a multitude of initiatives to improve the quality of early care and education programs in Philadelphia. The city is fortunate to have a long history of quality improvement supports, financed through both philanthropy and state and local government. There is an active interest in ensuring that Philadelphia’s youngest children and their families be able to equitably secure high-quality early learning services for their children. Capitalizing on this strong commitment, Vanguard Strong Start for Kids Program™ and the William Penn Foundation commissioned this report to learn more about opportunities to further develop and improve a system of quality improvement supports in Philadelphia.

To produce this report and its recommendations, BUILD worked closely with three key sets of stakeholders in Philadelphia—early learning providers, organizations that deliver quality improvement services, and public and private funders of these services. This highly interactive process ensured that those affected by the recommendations played a key role in shaping them.

Whether infants and toddlers are born healthy and with the potential to thrive as they grow greatly depends on their mother’s well-being – not just before birth, but even prior to conception. A new policy brief, developed in partnership between ZERO TO THREE and Child Trends: Racism Creates Inequities in Maternal and Child Health, Even Before Birth, applies an even more targeted racial and ethnic equity lens to the review of the data from the State of Babies Yearbook: 2021, and lays out recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to promote equity and improve maternal and child health.

The State of Babies Yearbook: 2021 shows that, even before the pandemic, our country wasn’t doing enough for our babies to thrive. In every state, significant disparities are hurting the ability for babies and families of color to thrive, often driven by historical and structural inequities. This supplemental report reinforces this understanding, exploring these disparities to better identify areas that warrant further examination and action.

A new study, Fostering socio-emotional learning through early childhood intervention, published in the International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, evaluated research on the impact of early childhood interventions on socio-emotional learning (SEL). Limiting their review to the most methodologically rigorous research, the researchers compared the effects of general prekindergarten programs, multi-component prekindergarten programs and skills-based interventions on SEL outcomes (defined as children’s acquisition of developmentally appropriate social and emotional skills). They found clear benefits and drawbacks to the three interventions. The researchers called on early childhood educators to prioritize SEL skills alongside literacy and numeracy skills, and urged ECE leaders, policymakers and parents to advocate for increased funding for implementing SEL interventions or infusing SEL into existing programs.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,100 early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers about their experiences with providing online instruction in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results, Shifting to Remote Learning During COVID-19: Differences for Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education Teachers, published in the Early Childhood Education Journal, indicate about 41% of ECE teachers and 33% of ECSE teachers reported they received no training in providing remote learning. When stay-at-home orders took effect in March 2020, “there was no precedent for providing online instruction to young children from birth through the age of five,” they noted. The survey found that “both types of professionals spent more time planning and communicating with families than providing instruction to children.” They did, however, find statistically significant differences “in activities provided, how time was spent, and training received by professional role.”

From telehealth visits to turning pediatric practices into one-stop-shops for families to get diapers and formula, the pediatric health care system adapted quickly during the coronavirus pandemic. In the second episode of the four-part special series of The Brain Architects podcast from the Center on the Developing Child, host Sally Pfitzer speaks with Dr. Rahil Briggs, the National Director of ZERO TO THREE's HealthySteps program, to discuss the potential impact of the pandemic on infant and toddler development, how an overstressed pediatric health care system responded, and the importance of overcoming equity challenges and public fears to resume well-child visits. Listen to The Brain Architects Podcast: COVID-19 Special Edition: Superheroes of Pediatric Care: Moving Beyond the Challenges of COVID-19.

How is ongoing, severe stress and adversity in early childhood connected to chronic disease in adults? And what can we do about it? In this animated video, narrated by Center on the Developing Child Director Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., learn what the latest science tells us about how early experiences affect not only early learning and school readiness, but also lifelong health.

Did you know PA's Promise for Children provides recommended book lists for families and early childhood education professionals to help children learn? Check out the book recommendations for preschoolers and kindergartners. Lists are available in handy printable format for families to print and take the lists to their local library so books easy to find.

Sometimes getting children to try new foods can be frustrating. This video from the USDA has some great tips to encourage children to try new foods. Although it's geared towards child care providers, the info can also help families with young children!

Summer is kicking off with the theme, “Explore Books”. It starts with four ‘travel’ posters featuring genres of books—Sci-fi, Mystery, Fantasy, and Adventure. This includes badges for children to color when they’ve completed a book in each genre, and a book passport. Access all of the materials here.

At readaloud.org there are tons of great resources that you will want to share with others in order to inspire reading every day. You can find many new resources through the Partner Toolkit which includes:

If you’re looking for new books to share with or explore with children of various ages, check out the book selections webpage. Use these resources and share them with others to help promote reading aloud every day!

With the warmer weather, it is important to review your written emergency plan and ensure everyone in your child care, after school or summer program knows how to keep children safe in the heat. Check out the resources from Child Care Aware of America on extreme heat.

Introduce children to three fruits and three vegetables with the set of drawings from the USDA's Grow It, Try It, Like It series. Each set of produce features illustrations of how the fruit or vegetable looks when it is being harvested and how it would look in a farmer's market. Click to download drawings.

This Florida School Toolkit for K-12 Educators to Prevent Suicide (S.T.E.P.S.) has drawn on evidence based national and state youth suicide prevention guidelines, including those issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), the University of South Florida (USF), and the states of California and Maine, among others.

June editions of resource materials from Camille Catlett are now available. The June edition of Baby Talk features information on letting a child learn by labeling, using stories to nurture identity and more. The June edition of Natural Resources contains information about what we know about how early childhood teachers use ongoing assessment, assessment and progress monitoring in early childhood, and more.