The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has announced a competitive Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP) Request for Application (RFA) for fiscal year 2021-22. OCDEL encourages all eligible Head Start and Early Head Start providers to apply. This RFA is intended to support providers in preparing to serve and enroll children by September 2021.

Applicants must submit Letters of Intent to RA-PAPreKCounts@pa.gov by 3:00 pm on June 24, 2021. Only applicants that submit a complete Letter of Intent by the deadline will be permitted to apply for funding. Learn more.

Those interested in applying for the competitive Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Request for Applications (RFA) Guidance must submit a Letter of Intent by the June 10, 2021. Programs that do not submit a Letter of Intent will not be able to apply in the eGrants system. Late submissions will not be accepted. Those agencies submitting a fully complete Letter of Intent by the due date will be notified when the Pennsylvania PKC application is open in eGrants.

This RFA is intended to support providers in preparing to serve and enroll children by September 2021. The RFA is currently being released to give providers time to conduct outreach to families; recruit, hire and train staff; and plan for implementing the program pending grant approval. Read more.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the development of Pennsylvania’s Draft FY 22-24 CCDF State Plan either by participating in a listening session, providing written comments or participating in the public hearing. You can find a recording of the hearing here.

The Pennsylvania Key, on behalf of OCDEL, has developed a resource page for providers and professionals to more easily navigate where to post and find employment opportunities. Visit the webpage here.

Hopefully you will find this resource helpful and utilize it moving forward. If you have or know additional resources that could or should be added please email CommsTeam@pakeys.org.

Early childhood education (ECE) professionals interested in attending college for the Fall semester that begins in August 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 the Fall 2021 semester. The Pennsylvania Child Care Association (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. New scholarship awards for the Fall 2021 semester 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 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. Contact the college/university office and ask to be connected with a T.E.A.C.H. Counselor.

Click here to download a scholarship application. Questions? Click here to contact a T.E.A.C.H. Counselor.

Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding recently announced the approval of nearly $400,000 in Farm to School Grants to fund 39 projects that will improve access to healthy, local foods and increase agricultural awareness opportunities for children pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

The Pennsylvania Farm Bill Farm to School Grant Program aims to enrich the connection communities have with fresh, healthy food and local producers by changing food purchasing and education practices at schools and early childhood education sites. Every one of the 39 projects approved have identified local farmers who will supply fresh, in-season product to support their programming or have plans to initiate their own garden or school farm to produce hyper-local products. In addition to providing students with access to local, nutritious food, the approved projects provide a variety of agriculture education experiences.

Congratulations to Ilecia Voughs, Early Intervention Technical Assistance (EITA) consultant, for being selected as the Learn the Signs. Act Early. Ambassador for Pennsylvania. The Learn the Signs. Act Early. Program is supported by the CDC to improve the early identification of developmental delays and disabilities, including autism.

The nomination period for ZERO TO THREE’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Emerging Leadership Awards for 2021 is now open. This IECMH award honors individuals who have made substantial contributions in advancing infant and early childhood mental health in one of three areas – practice, policy, and research. Award recipients are individuals whose work has had a demonstrable impact on the mental health and well-being of very young children and those who care for them. As champions for the early childhood field, please consider nominating an early to mid-career professional whose leadership and IECMH work are exemplary and represent a significant contribution to the field. Self-nominations will be accepted as well. Nomination deadline is June 14, 2021. Read more.

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is proud to recognize children and youth with exceptionalities who have demonstrated their determination and achievements in multiple ways. Presented each year at the CEC Convention & Expo, the Yes I Can Awards recognize 12 outstanding students with exceptionalities in six categories: Academics, Arts, School & Community Activities, Self-Advocacy, Technology, and Transition. If you know a child or youth with exceptionalities who goes above and beyond the expectations that have been set for them, send in your nomination for the 2022 Yes I Can Awards. Presented at the CEC 2022 Convention & Expo in Orlando, the Yes I Can Awards are a powerful opportunity to recognize children and youth with exceptionalities for their outstanding determination, abilities, and accomplishments. Deadline is Sept. 8, 2021.

The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Children and Families is seeking to fill two positions.

PHLpreK Director: The Director of PHLpreK reports to the Chief of Early Childhood Education and oversees the operations, oversight, management, supports, strategic planning, and promotion of the PHLpreK program. This includes leading the city’s expansion of quality seats available to families, coordinating new and existing pre-K initiatives that support the mission of the program, managing a team of 2-4 staff members, producing reports to senior members of the Mayor’s office and Office of Children and Families, and utilizing data and analytics to recommend strategic priorities of the city’s early childhood education sector. The Director of PHLpreK is also responsible for balancing a system of oversight and accountability with a system of supports offered to providers, teachers, staff, and families.

Director of Early Childhood Strategic Initiatives: This role will ensure the successful identification, development, implementation, and necessary operations to support the city’s early childhood education initiatives. The individual will be responsible for interacting with regional and local early childhood education leaders and partners to develop and execute policies to best prepare children and families of Philadelphia for the Kindergarten and elementary school experience. Some/all of the initiatives this individual is responsible for include managing an ECE Advisory Panel, Workforce Development, Enrollment/Access, Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, and other activities as needed.

The Collaborating Center for Questionnaire Design and Evaluation Research (CCQDER) is recruiting participants for research projects being conducted for the federal government. The Healthy and Ready to Learn (HRSA) study is open to adults aged 18 or over who have a child aged 3 to 5 years old and who work multiple jobs, work as temporary employees or contractors, or are not currently employed. Families may answer questions that may be asked on a national survey. The interview via Zoom will take no longer than 60 minutes and participants will receive $40. For more information or with any questions, please call Amanda at 301-458-4579 or send an email to RecruitmentTeam@cdc.gov.

The recently released report, Report on the Early Childhood Education Pre-Apprenticeship Model, released by the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness and the Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill highlights the steps taken to create the pioneering early childhood education pre-apprenticeship model implemented by the School District of Philadelphia at Parkway West High School, which is linked to the teaching pipeline made possible through the Pennsylvania Early Childhood Education (ECE) Registered Apprenticeship Career Pathway program. Also referenced in the report is the high school ECE pre-apprenticeship program implemented by Keystone College.

The report provides a comprehensive case study describing the importance of providing high school students with access to a streamlined process to attain degrees and certification through the pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship career pathway. Accessibility to the teaching pathway not only impacts the young adult students but also supports the field with new teachers possessing the competencies to provide high quality early childhood education.

Prekindergarteners from families with limited resources whose parents received training at home to help their children transition to kindergarten received learning benefits that lasted throughout elementary school, a study found.

Researchers tracked 200 Pennsylvania children starting when they attended Head Start programs through fifth grade. Half the children’s primary caregivers received an intervention of 16 weeks of home visits. The goal of the Research-based Developmentally Informed Parent program (REDI-P) was “to increase the sustained benefits of enriched preschool programming by engaging parents and strengthening home learning support.”

REDI-P had lasting positive effects on children’s reading skills, academic motivation, and learning engagement, as well as parent academic expectations and parenting stress, according to the study. “At fifth grade, significant main effects for intervention were sustained,” researchers wrote.

This study follows an earlier study, Reducing Adolescent Psychopathology in

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Children With a Preschool Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial, conducted by the researchers, when Pennsylvania Head Start classrooms were enriched with social-emotional learning and interactive reading. Researchers followed the first group of children through adolescence with significant benefits to their mental health associated with the classroom enrichment. The home visiting study came later, when home visits were enriched with similar content and found benefits in areas of academics and parent-child relationships.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) Early Childhood Policy team recently released a new issue brief, Growing the Economy Through Affordable Child Care, which spotlight the impacts of the child care crisis and highlight how the Child Care for Working Families Act is a bold, comprehensive child care proposal that could combat the child care crisis by making child care free or providing it at a reduced cost for working families.

By presenting the context for the crisis alongside new findings, the brief demonstrates the Child Care for Working Families Act could lead to more equitable economic growth for families in the United States, and we further show how accessible, affordable, quality child care is necessary for family economic security and U.S. economic prosperity.

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) into law. The sweeping $1.9 trillion legislation has the potential to lift millions of children and families out of poverty. Through expanded access to benefits and increased direct support, the ARP will have a ripple effect throughout the communities Head Start serves. As trusted partners of so many families, Head Start has the opportunity to build awareness and leverage policy changes to ensure the families it serves are best positioned to succeed through access to these new and expanded supports.

This document, The American Rescue Plan: Policy Change Affecting Head Start Families and Programs, from the National Head Start Association, is a guide to provisions in the law that are designed to lessen the economic impact of the pandemic on children and families. The information within the report is valuable for all families and early childhood education staff, not just those that meet Head Start/Early Head Start eligibility.

For ZERO TO THREE’s State of Babies report, Child Trends experts compiled and examined more than 60 policies and indicators related to infant and toddler well-being. Whenever possible, researchers disaggregated the data by race and ethnicity and examined indicators both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis highlights systemic inequities that families of color faced before the pandemic, as well as those they began to face after its onset.

A new brief, Moving Upstream: Confronting Racism to Open Up Children’s Potential, from Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, discusses how racism creates conditions that harm the well-being of children and families, and the need to go “upstream” and create policy solutions to address the source of structural, cultural, and interpersonal forms of racism. Extensive research on the association between significant adversity in childhood and disparities in lifelong health has consistently demonstrated that the greater the number of risk factors, the greater the likelihood of poor outcomes. Decades of research have also documented how racism in particular—whether overt or invisible to those who are not affected directly—can negatively influence the well-being of children and families. Science is now helping to explain these effects and point to solutions.

The Food Trust and the Pennsylvania Farm to School Network's leadership team have released a new website, www.pafarmtoschool.org, which is a one-stop shop for statewide farm to school information and resources. Sections within the website provides a curated list of Pennsylvania specific farm to school resources for food service staff, educators, farmers and suppliers, and advocates, and more.

Pennsylvania's KinConnector provides guidance, advice and support for kinship care families though out Pennsylvania in numerous ways, including: Connecting caregivers to health, financial, and legal services; Connecting Caregivers to training and parenting support Identifying local physical or behavioral health services; Identifying support groups Guiding caregivers on how to apply for federal, state, and local benefits such as CHIP and Social Security, and other services designed to support caregivers; and Providing access to a compassionate KinConnector who will listen and provide supportive guidance.

Pennsylvania’s Prenatal-to-Three (PN3) Collaborative has released the first edition of their parent newsletter, PN3 Parent’s Corner. This newsletter will be released every other month and provide parents with news, resources, and opportunities for engagement around various issue areas. The goal is to help parents become more engaged in the work of the collaborative and provide opportunities to lift their voices around issues that matter most to their family. The newsletter is being published in conjunction with the prenatal-to-three collaborative and United Way of Pennsylvania. The newsletter is available in English and Spanish. Subscribe to get the next release or contact info@uwp.org with questions.

The experts and trainers behind the ASQ^® screening system recently presented an information-packed webinar covering important topics for early childhood directors and administrators interested in starting a screening program. More than 1,100 early childhood professionals participated as Jane Squires, Elizabeth Twombly, and Dalia Avello shared important insights. Watch the recorded webinar.

National Summer Learning Week from National Summer Learning Association is July 12-16, 2021, and a celebration dedicated to elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe, and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed. Get themes and resources, like the program toolkit and the family toolkit.

A monthly newsletter provides materials to promote good oral health in the early learning classroom and at home. It also includes a recipe for a healthy snack that children can make in an early childhood education classroom or at home with their families. Although targeted to Head Start staff, the materials and information are useful for any early childhood educator.

The Atlantic hurricane season has begun, and some researchers are predicting more hurricanes than normal. Although Pennsylvania may not be at a high risk for hurricanes, the state has experienced hurricane damage in the past and early childhood education programs can take steps to be prepared. Child Care Aware of America has resources available to help with planning and preparation.

The May edition of Natural Resources from Camille Catlett focuses on Universal Design for Learning. The May edition of Baby Talk shares info about science learning, STEM innovation for inclusion in early education, and more.