HARRISBURG, PA (February 9, 2022) – Today, the principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, issued the following statements regarding Governor Tom Wolf’s 2022-23 state budget proposal. ELPA operates four issue-based advocacy campaigns: Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, Childhood […]
2021-22 State Budget: Growth for Pre-k; Ignores Recommendations Prioritizing Child Care and Fails to Expand Evidence-based Home Visiting Services
HARRISBURG, PA (June 25, 2021) – The principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, believes the commonwealth’s economic recovery hinges on helping working families by prioritizing greater state investments in high-quality pre-k, child care and evidence-based home visiting. ELPA operates […]
Clarion County Officials Discuss Benefits of Voluntary Home Visit Programs
Pam Johnson, Executive Director of Jefferson-Clarion Head Start, Inc. provided an overview of the program, which serves 79 families living in challenging circumstances each year in the Early Head Start Program. Visiting parent educators help nurture healthy attachments for low-income families parenting infants and toddlers and for pregnant women and their families through intensive comprehensive […]
Home Visiting Programs Increase Well-being In Fulton County
Fulton County elected officials gathered virtually on March 31 with Fulton County Family Partnership leadership, home visitors and parent participants to discuss how the county’s voluntary home visiting and parent coaching programs help increase parenting effectiveness, boost young children’s school readiness, and can reduce rates of child abuse and neglect. All of these and other […]
Opinion: Missing from Biden’s American Families Plan: Help for low-income parents with new babies
President Joe Biden just released his American Families Plan focused on strengthening the country’s social safety net and investing in our children. Surprisingly, the $1.8 trillion plan seems to be missing one essential component: scaling up successful, evidence-based and thus far dreadfully underfunded early childhood interventions for low-income families. In particular, it should include programs that provide regular […]
Press Release: Statement on Governor Wolf’s 2021-22 State Budget Proposal
“The Childhood Begins at Home campaign is disappointed that the governor’s 2021-22 state budget proposal does not include an increase for voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs in Pennsylvania for the second year in a row. Given the current environment, the decision to not increase investments so more families are able to participate is perplexing because […]
OCDEL, PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Release 2020 Family Support Needs Assessment
In October 2020, the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), in partnership with PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, released the 2020 Family Support Needs Assessment, which provides a landscape of maternal, young child and family health across Pennsylvania, and assesses the capacity and scope of home visitation services. Read here for more […]
Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Programs Level-Funded for Remainder of FY 2020-21
Advocacy campaigns continue to push on reimbursement policy and federal stabilization fund HARRISBURG, PA (November 20, 2020) – The principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five, thank the General Assembly for level funding state investments in high-quality pre-k, child care and evidence-based […]
Press Release: Childhood Begins at Home Statement on Passage of Stopgap Budget
Voluntary, Evidence-Based Home Visiting Services Preserved in Stopgap Budget HARRISBURG, PA (May 29, 2020) – The Childhood Begins at Home campaign released the following statement after passage of the five-month stopgap state budget: “Families need support now more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic and evidence-based home visiting services for our children and families will […]
How can we not protect children?
As a pediatrician who specializes in evaluating maltreated children in Central Pennsylvania, I have evaluated more than 5,000 cases. Throughout my career in this field, I am often asked how can I do this work. My answer is, “How can I not?” Read More.
