Preschool Development Grant (PDG) - The Pennsylvania Key

Preschool
Development
Grant (PDG)

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The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) received a three year Preschool Development Birth Through Five Renewal Grant (PDG-R) to build upon the initial grant which ended in 2020. OCDEL is the primary recipient of the $16 million renewal grant in direct partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

OCDEL will use PDG-R funds to conduct an updated needs assessment, create marketing materials in other languages to support compulsory school attendance, provide additional early childhood mental health supports for both families and staff, enhance the PD Registry, expand the coaching model for early childhood education staff, provide training and resources to support families and children experiencing homelessness, and mini-grants to early learning providers to help expand availability of care based on geography and barriers and obtain supports for challenging behaviors.

Project Updates

Resources To Support Routine Childhood Immunization

/April 22, 2024

Rapid Response Teams Grants Awarded

/January 23, 2024

HHS-ED Policy Statement on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs

/January 2, 2024

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Key Activities

1: Updated Needs Assessment

Evaluation to update Pennsylvania’s current needs assessment and identify:

geographic reach and risk of young children and families,
communities, and
early childhood education programs statewide.

NA will expand OCDEL’s research on the availability of care based on geography and barriers to guide data-informed decisions on where best to increase child care supply and resources.

3: Maximize Parent and Family Engagement in the B-5 System

Translation of existing resources developed for families
New Family Engagement and Child Development Materials
Marketing Needs Assessment and Campaign
Hire additional staff to support the Virtual Infant Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Office
IECMH Resource Library promotion, marketing, and translation.

5: Support Program Quality Improvement

Expand SACC Mental Health Consultation
Pilot RULER approach for SEL
Reduce burden by streamlining data collection & monitoring efforts
Target Collaboration Opportunities around Homelessness
- ASQ:SE2 Training/tools
- HopePHL training expansion
- Resource Toolkit dissemination

2: Updated Strategic Plans

More information to follow.

4: Support the B-5 Workforce and Disseminate Best Practices

Enhance Coaching Supports
Trauma Sensitive and Informed EC Environments
Translation of QRIS Resources in Multiple Languages
Workforce Evaluation
Enhance PD Registry
Enhance/Expand PDO Supports & Reach (Recruitment & Retention efforts)

6: Subgrants to Enhance Quality and Expand Access

Child care “start-up” grants ($2000-$10000)
- Will be informed by Needs Assessment
Support 19 local Rapid Response Teams (RRT) with funding, training, development, implementation supports and cross site evaluation of outcomes.

Rapid Response Team (RRT) Implementation Mini Grant

As part of the renewed Preschool Development Grant (PDG), OCDEL will expand and help standardize the development of RRTs by awarding nineteen (19) Rapid Response Mini Grants to local collaboratives to create teams, support emerging teams, or enhance existing Rapid Response approaches.

Learn More

Additional Resources

Contact

Lisa Unrath
PDG Manager
lisunr@pakeys.org