The Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller recently released a Penn State University study of COVID-19’s impact on Pennsylvania’s child care industry. The study, The Impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania Child Care, completed by researchers at Penn State Harrisburg’s Institute of State and Regional Affairs, includes recommendations for distribution of a third round of CARES Act funding to ensure that this critical sector remains financially solvent and available to provide safe and high-quality child care to Pennsylvania’s working families.

The impact study analyzes the financial costs of the COVID-19 crisis to child care providers, the possibility of permanent closures as a result of the crisis and the level of investment needed to sustain the industry during a transitional period of low demand and after the crisis has subsided. Penn State researchers drew conclusions from both detailed surveys distributed to hundreds of child care providers throughout Pennsylvania and a smaller number of personal interviews with child care providers and workers.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, 7,017 licensed child care providers were operating in Pennsylvania. As of late July, more than 200 of those providers have indicated an intention to permanently close their doors.

Penn State’s study estimates about 1,000 additional providers are at risk of closure without financial assistance to offset ongoing costs of implementing COVID-19 guidelines and reduced enrollments.

For more information, see the press release or read the study results, The Impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania Child Care.

Round 3 CARES Act payments are now available to certified, eligible child care providers who complete and submit the Attestation Form to their Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC). For more information, please visit the Pennsylvania Key website.

A recorded video, Keystone STARS Performance Standards, is now available for all Keystone STARS early childhood education providers that offers an overview of the clarifications and changes made in the recently-released 2020 Keystone STARS Performance Standards. Watch the half-hour video, Keystone STARS Performance Standards. 

Also available are the Keystone STARS Performance Standards, Program Manual, and related resources on the Pennsylvania Key website.

If ECE providers have questions regarding Keystone STARS, they should contact their Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC). Find the ELRC at www.raiseyourstar.org.

OCDEL thanks providers for their continued participation in the OCDEL Provider Survey. A huge thank you to the more than 1,400 early childhood education providers who provided their response in the June survey and the more than 1,200 who participated in the July survey! Responses provide very valuable information to represent the child care situation in Pennsylvania. Your participation this month will be particularly useful as OCDEL understand the impacts changes in local school district schedules are having on school age child care enrollment.

The survey is voluntary and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Every child care operator’s participation is encouraged for this brief survey.

The Bureau of Early Intervention Services and Family Supports, through Early Intervention Technical Assistance, offered fully paid scholarships to the University of Pittsburgh course work on Infant Mental Health. Applications went out statewide in the spring 2020. Eligible applicants included Infant Toddler Early Intervention Special Instructors and Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) funded home visitors.

The course work is all virtual and consists of 15 three-hour modules for a total of 45 hours. Participants have from September 2020 to June 2021 to complete the course work. Participants will also join Learning Circles every other month to discuss application of their course knowledge.

All applications were accepted and resulted in:

For more information about the course work contact Deb Daulton at ddaulton@pattan.net

Those who were not required to file a tax return may still qualify for the $1,200 Economic Impact Payment. Oct. 15, 2020, is the deadline to apply.

Many U.S. citizens and U.S. resident aliens are eligible to receive an Economic Impact Payment. The payments are up to $1,200 per individual and some people may be eligible for up to an additional $500 per qualifying child. They don’t need income to be eligible.

The IRS urges sharing this with several key groups, including:

Visit the IRS website for more information.

Please visit earlychildhoodsummit.org for more information about Summit and to save $30 per person off of the Regular Registration fees. Questions? Send them to earlychildhoodsummit.org/contact-us. 

The Be Strong Parent Café process was created and developed by Be Strong Families. The purpose of Be Strong Parent Cafés is to provide an environment in which parents and family members can build the protective factors through individual, deep self-reflection and peer-to-peer learning.

Two Be Strong Parent Café Institute Online (PCTI-O) events are scheduled for the fall of 2020 to encourage more communities to use this forum for engaging family members in learning more about the five research-based Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors that keep families strong. The Be Strong PCTI-O is a three-day experiential and highly interactive online institute that prepares a team of family leaders and family support providers, educators, and other professionals to convene and implement parent cafés and to serve as café leaders and table hosts. Participants gain an understanding and can discuss and reflect on the Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors.

The PCTI is designed for team participation. Each team must have at least four members (no more than six), and it is preferred that teams include both family members and staff. All team members must participate in all three days of the course. Each team will participate in follow-up implementation support from certified instructor technical assistants.

This institute certifies teams to implement online cafes ONLY. To implement place-based cafes, an additional course is needed.

To learn more about the Be Strong Parent Café model and to begin the planning process for attending the institute, please read the announcement and complete and return the Team Application/Readiness Checklist and Agreement by Sept. 4, 2020.

Contact pa-strengtheningfamilies@csc.csiu.org with any questions.

The Center for Schools and Communities, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), is seeking presentation proposals for a virtual professional learning summit. The 2021 ELD Virtual Professional Learning Summit will focus on “Teaching for Equity in a Multilingual World.” Access to equitable, affirming, and socially just education is a critical concern for all educators and students, particularly during the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This summit is designed to provide a space for parents, teachers, administrators, scholars, and PDE staff to engage in professional practices of knowledge sharing, discussion, critical analysis, and re-visioning of educational policies and practices to advance the quality of educational experiences for English learner students and families. The planning committee seeks high-quality, virtual sessions that explicitly draw connections between current theory and research and educational practice. Presentations that are co-designed and co-presented by researcher-practitioner teams will receive additional consideration in the review process.

Completed proposals should be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, 2020. Applicants will be notified of the acceptance decision by early January. Click here to get more info or to submit a proposal.

The Pennsylvania Department of State is working hard to educate voters and help prepare them to vote conveniently and securely in the Nov. 3, 2020, general election. And your help is needed!

As a steward of trusted information in your community, you are encouraged to share information from the Department of State with your networks. To make it easy, there is a voter education toolkit for you to use. Visit votesPA.com/R2Vtoolkit to find social media graphics, printable posters, sample newsletter content and more!

Every year, elections in Pennsylvania are made possible by thousands of regular citizens who serve as poll workers. These individuals are depended upon to run fair and secure elections, and the need for new poll workers has never been greater.

You can help by reaching out to your networks to let them know that poll workers are needed. You can find a Poll Worker Recruitment toolkit here and at votesPA.com/getinvolved. That’s also where voters can submit their information if they’re interested in serving. In addition, you can find resources for poll worker recruitment on the US Election Assistance Commission website at eac.gov/help-america-vote.

Thank you for your partnership and your efforts to support safe, secure, and successful elections in Pennsylvania.

The Wolf Administration recently released the online Mental Health Guide, providing Pennsylvania's information about finding help and treatment, preventing suicide, mental health and current events, resources for everyone, and improving mental health statewide. Click to view the Mental Health Guide.

A new resource, Supporting Families and Child Care Providers during the Pandemic with a Focus on Equity, from Child Trends outlines the challenges facing families and child care providers disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and offers potential strategies that state and local policymakers and administrators can use to address those challenges. For example, state and local policymakers should consider that job losses affect parents’ ability to pay for care and that, as a result, more families may need flexibility in accessing and using child care subsidies.

The Institute of Education Sciences has released a new report based on data from the 2019 National Household Education Survey regarding early childhood care and education for children birth to age 5 and not yet in kindergarten. The report obtained information on more than 7000 children nationally. It includes some information on home learning environments for children ages 3 to 5. Among the noteworthy findings, the study shows little change in preschool program participation since 2012. The report provides national estimates of participation rates in early childhood nonparental care and education arrangements, how well these arrangements cover work hours, costs, location, what parents consider when selecting an arrangement, and difficulties finding arrangements.

The transition to kindergarten is a big event for children and families. This qualitative study on the Value of a Summer Kindergarten Transition Program for Children, Families, and Schools, published in the School Community Journal, 2020, Vol. 30, No. 1, looked at the effects of a summer kindergarten transition program for children and their families and its impact on the first few weeks of school.

The National Summer Learning Association has released the Summer Learning: A Bridge to Student Success and America’s Recovery, a COVID-19 PLAYBOOK. According to the RAND Corporation and Wallace Foundation report, Investing in Successful Summer Programs, summertime can be used to support an array of goals for children and youth, including academic enrichment, physical and mental health, social-emotional well-being, and the development of interests. The only way to make critical summer learning and enrichment opportunities, more readily available through this pandemic and beyond, is through ingenuity and partnerships. The purpose of this playbook is to provide a long-term, comprehensive, and sustainable framework for planning, collaborating, and executing evidence-based practices and partnerships for high-quality summer and out-of-school time (OST) experiences.

When external threats trigger the body's stress response, multiple biological systems spring into action like a team of highly skilled athletes. Inflammation is a critical part of our immune system's stress response. But what is inflammation and how does it impact child development? This new infographic, What Is Inflammation? And Why Does it Matter for Child Development?, from the Center on the Developing Child explains short-term vs. long-term inflammation, the adverse impacts of chronic inflammation, and steps we can take to improve children's lifelong health.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, families are faced with unusual challenges. We may be caring for a child full-time, without assistance or support from child care, family members or friends. We may be juggling caring for our child while working full-time. We may feel as if we don’t have one minute to ourselves, may feel overwhelmed, tired, or frustrated. All of these feelings are very normal! PA's Promise for Children has tips and resources for families and caregivers to support their mental health.

As part of the updated guidance for Early Intervention (EI) programs, the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) developed the Guide for Families for In-Person/In-Home EI Services During COVID 19. This guidance was designed to help families understand the guidance that has been provided to their local EI programs, as well as to assist them in navigating concerns, considerations and questions they may have, as it relates to in-person/in-home services during COVID-19.

As schools reopen, some schools will be teaching in a remote manner, and some youth will be in afterschool programs all day. This recorded webinar, Reopening of School and Planning Remote Learning in Afterschool, from Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool Youth Development Network (PSAYDN) explores some planning strategies for instructional supports, setting up the environment, types of IT tools needed and how to create a school, family afterschool staff communication system to support youth. Presenters: Betsy Saatman SAC TA Specialist Pennsylvania Key; Stefanie Camoni, Program Quality Assessor Pennsylvania Key; James Powell, Office Manager/IT Support Pennsylvania Key; and Sarah Holland, Special Assistant for Family Engagement, Office of Child Development and Early Learning.

As afterschool programs reopen, it is important to take into consideration the social emotional needs of youth upon reuniting. Explore the video recording of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL) Re-entry tool, Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Roadmap for Reopening School. Presenters include Pam Emery, Tina Lawson, and Dana Milakovic, all from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Check out this new resource, Leaning On and Building Strengths During COVID-19 Response and Recovery: Operational Considerations for Child Care Programs from Child Care Aware. Explore ways that child care programs can lean on and build upon strengths to survive the pandemic and thrive beyond it.

Lessons to Grow By from Kids Gardening is a FREE four-month program of weekly garden-themed lessons and activities for caregivers teaching at home, or for educators instructing via distance learning. These fun, engaging adventures will be grouped around a monthly theme, featuring three hands-on activities for kids each week with supplemental suggested reading, videos, and more. Lessons to Grow By is aimed at learners in grades 3-5, but the activities can easily be adapted for younger or older audiences. Lessons to Grow By is only available by subscription, so sign up here.

If your organization needs free handwashing pictures and posters to educate your staff or visitors, you can download them for free at the USDA website. Although some pertain to a commercial kitchen setting, most would also be appropriate for child care settings.

More LA Smiles has partnered with Sesame Street in Communities to conduct a children’s oral health awareness campaign with the aim of educating children, families, and caregivers about the importance of oral health. New videos include four scenarios with Dentist Grover delivering key messaging surrounding setting daily brushing routines, using the correct amount of toothpaste, consuming healthy drinks and snacks, and regularly visiting the dentist. And there is a brand-new song and music video starring Elmo called Elmo’s Toothy Dance. 

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency is ready for National Preparedness Month in September. Ready PA! Check out the social media links, great for sharing with families and community and early childcare education partners.