Happy New Year!

People’s Emergency Center (PEC) and Youth Service, Inc. (YSI) announced our plan to integrate into one agency in November 2019. We officially began operating as a single organization named HopePHL™ (pronounced “hopeful”) on January 1, 2023. HopePHL’s mission is to inspire Philadelphia's children, youth, families and communities to thrive by providing housing, advocacy, and trauma-responsive social services designed to promote equity, resilience, autonomy, and well-being. 
Where is the Childcare? 
Join the January Children's Work Group
Early Childhood Conference
Jacob Rosch of The Reinvestment Fund will join the January 20th Children Work Group Early Childhood Conference (CWGEC) to share their latest research on the changes in childcare supply and demand in Philadelphia based on their new report. 

The Reinvestment Fund is a key partner in building and stabilizing the childcare system.  Their most recent report is “Estimating Changes in the Supply of and Demand for Child Care in Philadelphia.” The report includes some good news and identifies some key challenges. This report will offer important information for families experiencing homelessness and staff who work with the families. 

In addition, we will share a new analysis from the BELL Project, showing how Covid has affected the shelter system’s ability to support their families in need of high-quality early learning programs. 

The CWGEC Conference will be Friday, January 20, 9:30 to 11 AM. Register below! 

BELL Permanent Supportive Housing presents at the Homes Within Reach Conference
by Todd Hopkins, BELL PSH Early Childhood Coordinator 

On Wednesday, December 7, members of the BELL PSH team presented at the Homes Within Reach Conference in Hershey, PA. The conference provided an opportunity for service providers, housing professionals, community builders and those passionately committed to ensuring a home for every Pennsylvanian to come together to learn, network and share ideas. The efforts of BELL PSH were presented in a workshop entitled “Permanent Supportive Housing and Early Childhood Education: Increasing Enrollment in Quality Programs.”   

The workshop shared research that was collected in a 2019 Needs Assessment. The assessment of families in PSH in Philadelphia led to BELL adapting to including Permanent Supportive Housing in its scope. The workshop discussed the major findings and implications of the Needs Assessment and the BELL PSH model. Results from the assessment were presented by Maureen Hayes, PhD., who conducted focus groups with parents living in PSH in Philadelphia with children ages birth to five. The main themes of Dr. Hayes’ research focused on the importance of early childhood education, identifying quality childcare, the availability of local childcare programs, ineffective Support from PSH Programs, and parents’ reluctance to use childcare. She also conducted Point in Time Surveys with 17 PSH programs in Philadelphia. 
 
Among the recommendations that came from the needs assessment was the creation of the Parent Ambassador position at BELL. Yasimine Swinton, a Parent Ambassador, discussed her work over the past year to engage families and increase awareness of the importance of Early Childhood Education. Yasimine has been able to use her experiences to facilitate and participate conversations about child development issues with parents of children ages birth to five. As part of BELL, Yasimine has conducted early learning activities such as conduct outreach, surveys, participate in peer-learning groups, parent workshops and special events. The ambassadors are also able to share their perspectives as having previously worked at Early Learning programs. It is a unique benefit to have parents as ambassadors who understand the inside of an early childhood program. BELL PSH’s use of Parent Ambassadors has been one of their most effective methods for outreach and building trust with parents. Having residents as part of BELL creates access and connections to shelter staff and parents that has proven extremely valuable.  
Save the Date: February 15th Webinar - Infants and Toddlers Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania
A new report shows that of Pennsylvania’s estimated 12,376 infants and toddlers who experienced homelessness in 2021, only 1,274, or 10.3%, were in high-quality early childhood education. A webinar featuring the SchoolHouse Connection, PA Head Start State Collaboration Office, and others will discuss the report’s findings and what statewide and local leaders can do to increase access to high-quality early learning for infants and toddlers experiencing homelessness.
 
The link to the webinar scheduled for February 15th from 3pm - 4pm will be distributed in a future email. For more information, contact us at policy@pec-cares.org
You are receiving this because you expressed an interest in
HopePHL™ (formerly PEC and YSI)