November 2023 Edition

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The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) kicks off November's National Family Engagement Month with a video from Deputy Secretary, Shante' Brown.

Celebrate and bring awareness to the importance of family engagement during November's National Family Engagement month. Families are children’s first, longest lasting, and most important teachers, advocates, and nurturers. Positive parenting and strong family engagement is central, not supplemental, to promoting children’s healthy development and wellness. Family engagement is a collaborative and strengths-based process through which early childhood professionals, families, and children build positive and goal-oriented relationships. It is a shared responsibility of families and staff at all levels that requires mutual respect for the roles and strengths each has to offer.

Pennsylvania's Promise for Children has information and resources for supporting family engagement. Read family stories, watch their videos, and find ways families can become involved. Providers can also use suggestions in the November Family Engagement Calendar as opportunities to increase engagement with families in their early learning program, and learn about PD courses in the PD Registry that can help increase family engagement. 

Early childhood education (ECE) professionals interested in attending college for the Spring semester beginning January 2024 should apply NOW to T.E.A.C.H.! T.E.A.C.H. applications must be complete and submitted with all required documentation/ information by Friday, November 17, 2023, to be considered for the Spring 2024 semester. 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 Spring 2024 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 intended college/university. This helps to ensure that 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.  

Need more information? Click here to for details on eligibility, program requirements and to download a scholarship application. Questions? Click here to contact a T.E.A.C.H. Counselor. 

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Pennsylvania is supported by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Pennsylvania’s Department of Education (PDE). For more information, visit dhs.pa.gov and education.pa.gov. 

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Pennsylvania is administered by the Pennsylvania Child Care Association (PACCA) and is a licensed program of Child Care Services Association. 

• Nov. 8-10: 2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit, Virtual & Shippensburg
• Nov. 15-18: NAEYC Annual Conference, Nashville, TN
• Nov. 28-Dec. 1: DEC's 38th Annual International Conference on Young Children with Special Needs and Their Families, Minneapolis, MN
• Dec. 4-7: NHSA’s annual Parent and Family Engagement Conference, New Orleans
• Dec. 7-9: 2023 Empower Pennsylvania's OST Conference, Lancaster

2024

• March 25-26: Save the date: OCDEL Early Childhood Conference, Stable and Secure: Supporting Children Through Trauma Sensitive Approaches, Hershey, PA
• April 9-11: 16th National Conference for Immunization Coalitions and Partnerships, Philadelphia
• April 15-18: National Head Start Conference, Portland, Oregon
• June 24-29: National Research Conference on Early Childhood 2024, Arlington, VA
• Nov. 6-9: Save the date: National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference, Anaheim, CA

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is now accepting applications. LIHEAP is a federally-funded program administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) that provides assistance for home heating bills so those Pennsylvanians meeting eligibility and income guidelines can stay warm and safe during the winter months. Assistance is available for renters and homeowners. 

The LIHEAP season runs Nov. 1, 2023-April 5, 2024. Minimum grant is $300 and maximum is $1,000. Crisis grants are minimum $25 and maximum $1,000. To be eligible for LIHEAP, you must meet the income limit of 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Limit. For an individual, that is a gross income of $21,870 per year, and for a family of four, that is a gross income of $45,000 per year. People do not need to know whether they are eligible for the program. They should apply via the COMPASS website and DHS will determine eligibility.

During the 2022-2023 LIHEAP season, 312,169 households statewide received $125,572,518 in LIHEAP Cash benefits, and these households received an average season benefit of $402. 135,029 households statewide received $98,923,752 in LIHEAP Crisis benefits, and these households received an average payment of $688.

Pennsylvanians can apply for LIHEAP and other public assistance programs online at www.compass.state.pa.us or by phone at 1-866-550-4355. On-site County Assistance Office (CAO) services are available if clients cannot access online services or need assistance that cannot be accessed through the COMPASS website, the myCOMPASS PA mobile app, or by calling the Customer Service Centers at 215-560-7226 for Philadelphia clients or 1-877-395-8930 for clients in all other counties. Please share this information with those who may be interested and/or eligible.

The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is hosting a webinar on Nov. 2 focused on the importance of early learning as a critical component in fostering multilingualism and multiliteracy. The intended audience includes teachers, administrators, researchers/ policymakers, and childcare providers, but parents/guardians are welcome to attend to hear how their child can benefit from early learning.  

Raise the Bar: Lead the World is the U.S. Department of Education’s call to action to transform education and unite around what works—based on decades of experience and research—to advance educational equity and excellence. As part of ED’s Raise the Bar efforts to create pathways for global engagement, the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is hosting a webinar to discuss how early learning for English learners and multilingual learners fits within the Raise the Bar Initiative. During this event, presenters will reflect on the importance of early learning as a critical component in fostering multilingualism and multiliteracy and discuss ways to elevate multilingualism in the context of early learning. The webinar is available at no cost, but pre-registration is required. Register here.

The Child Welfare Data Lab at Penn State is looking for early childhood education and care professionals to provide input about a new trauma screening training program tailored to the needs of the early childhood education sector. For those interested in providing feedback, click here to go to a brief survey (approx. 10-15min). Following survey completion, participants will be entered into a gift card raffle with the possibility to win one of 50 Amazon gift cards (value of $10 each). Further questions can be directed to the research associate (Marci Cross-Ramirez - mdc28@psu.edu) or lead investigator (Dr. Christian Connell - cmc128@psu.edu).

Early Care and Education (ECE) and Out of School Time (OST) are invited to participate in a Workforce Survey! Having quality ECE and OST is a critical element for a thriving community. As a result, the Allegheny County Department of Children Initiatives (DCI) has partnered with Category One Consulting (C1C), an independent research and consulting firm, to conduct a study of the ECE and OST workforce. This survey aims to gather your perspectives so they can be used to inform improvements for workers and the community.

Please click here to begin the survey. Once you complete the survey you will be entered into a drawing to win one of five $100 VISA gift cards. The survey is expected to take about 10 minutes to complete and will be open through Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. Please forward this invitation to anyone you know who works in the ECE/OST workforce that would benefit sharing their perspectives.

It is important to note that all responses will remain completely confidential and C1C will not share them with anyone at DCI or your organization. Instead, all findings will be shared in aggregate to inform overall improvements. If you have any questions about the survey, please feel free to reach out to Sanaa Kripal at sanaakripal@category1consulting.com.

The Federal Reserve Bank wants to hear from you! How would you rate the financial condition of your business? Did your business seek financing such as loans or lines of credit in the last 12 months? Within the past 12 months, did your business sustain losses from a natural disaster?



The Federal Reserve’s 2023 Small Business Credit Survey is open for responses. By taking the optional survey, you contribute to data that directly inform the Fed, federal government agencies, service providers, policymakers, and others — ultimately benefiting your business and other businesses like yours.

The results from last year’s survey helped the Philadelphia Fed develop four briefs offering a snapshot of small business conditions in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington MSA, and the Third District states overall. Read the briefs to learn what firms in this region said about their overall condition and top challenges.

The survey is open to businesses that are currently in operation, those that recently closed, and those that are about to launch. All responses are confidential. Take the 12-minute survey now.

The survey closes Nov. 17, 2023. Questions? Contact Olivia Ness at olivia.ness@phil.frb.org.

Nonprofits and schools are eligible to apply for ALDI Cares Community Grants to support children through education, arts, athletics, or addressing food insecurity locally while supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. Grant requests can range from $250 to $5,000. Learn more.

The Department of Health, Bureau of Family Health has announced the Request for Applications (RFA) for the Community to Home (C2H) Program. Community to Home (C2H) is a home visiting program, focused on rural areas of PA. C2H improves the health of Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) by assisting them, with their families, to access the services and supports required to thrive in the community and develop to their full potential. This program utilizes evidence based, home visiting services through the Community Health Worker (CHW) model to provide care coordination and education allowing CYSHCN and their families to learn the skills they need to succeed in living with their special health care needs. There are six service regions for this program. 

The Bureau is seeking qualified Pennsylvania organizations to provide direct, individualized services to families who qualify for C2H. The organization is required to employ CHWs to work with individuals and their families to create a plan of continuous care. CHWs are trusted members of the communities in which they serve and specialize in health literacy, health education, and care coordination to facilitate access to services.

The C2H RFA can be found on the Pennsylvania eMarketplace (www.emarketplace.state.pa.us) by searching for RFA 67-167. Questions regarding the RFA can be submitted during the pre-Application Conference, which is schedule for November 15, 2023. Responses will be posted as an addendum to the RFA. Questions can be directed to Danielle Rhodes (danierhode@pa.gov). Applications will not be accepted after December 19, 2023. 

This research paper from the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) describes the history, findings and recommendations to reach underrepresented youth in STEM. The findings underscore the importance of family involvement and list recommendations to change behaviors and the STEM pipeline. 

A new brief from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families describes several aspects of early care and education providers’ availability and flexibility that may influence how accessible these providers are to Latino households. Findings point to areas of unmet child care needs for Hispanic families, including enrollment denials due to limited space and lack of flexible care schedules.  

A new analysis from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families examines weekly out-of-pocket costs for child care among Hispanic households with low incomes. Findings reveal that while many Hispanic households with low incomes used no-cost child care in 2019, those who paid out-of-pocket spent an average of 30 percent of their income, a figure that is more than four times the federal affordability guideline.  

The November releases of family-friendly newsletters for families and providers of children, ages birth to Kindergarten are now available. The newsletters feature fun early learning activities that align with the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards, resources and information to help families as their child's first and most important teacher.

Take a look and share with families and friends, then subscribe to get the next release directly into your inbox.

• Learning is Everywhere
• Kindergarten Here I Come
• Kindergarten Here I Am

ZERO TO THREE released a statement in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict that reflects the concern about the violence and trauma that babies, toddlers and families are experiencing. Read the full statement here. 

During these challenging times, ZERO TO THREE has free resources for families and caregivers, and professionals who support them, that offer guidance on helping young children grieve and process traumatic experiences, enabling them to provide the best care for babies and themselves in times of war and turmoil, including:

• A Big Impact on Little Kids: Understanding How Traumatic Experiences Affect Very Young Children
• How to Talk to Young Children About War (available in Arabic and Hebrew)
• Little Listeners in an Uncertain World
• Helping Toddlers Cope with Grief and Death
• Mindfulness and Self Care: Building a Resilient Community and Culture of Caring
• Children’s Book: Once I Was Very Very Scared by Chandra Gosh Ippen. Available in the following languages:  
• American Sign Language 
• Arabic
• German 
• Norwegian 
• Spanish 
• Swedish 
• Turkish 
• Vietnamese 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families has developed a guide for families to highlight federal benefits and services to help families meet child care, health care, mental health, nutrition, housing, and financial needs. The document is also available in Spanish and Mandarin.

Even among youngest learners, chronic absenteeism is a nationwide problem. The Institute of Education Sciences developed a toolkit, and their Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest developed a handout to support the use of text messaging for families and caregivers to reduce chronic absenteeism.

The October resources from Camille Catlett are now available. The October edition of Baby Talk features the articles Using Mealtimes to Support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Learning; Study Shows that Toddlers Who Had Screen Time as Infants Experienced Developmental Delays, and more. The October edition of Natural Resources features the articles Pronouncing Kids’ Names Correctly Matters. Here’s How to Get It Right.; What Listeners Told Us About the Importance of Getting Names Right, and more.