Created in 2007 by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), The Pennsylvania Key implements the work and supports the policies developed and managed by OCDEL. Learn More. >
Created in 2007 by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), The Pennsylvania Key implements the work and supports the policies developed and managed by OCDEL. Learn More. >Pennsylvania has been selected as one of ten states nationwide to receive a $100,000 Thrive from the Start award, a national initiative led by Thrive from the Start and coordinated by ZERO TO THREE in partnership with SchoolHouse Connection, Prevent Child Abuse America, Housing Is, and the National Collaborative for Infants & Toddlers.
This grant will enable partners within the Commonwealth to build on—rather than duplicate—existing state and local efforts, while strengthening collaboration with advocacy and community partners to increase public and policymaker understanding of the urgency of PN-3 homelessness.
Families with infants and toddlers are often invisible in traditional homelessness systems, despite facing significant developmental and health risks. This award positions Pennsylvania to further connect the systems that touch families earliest, ensuring that stable housing and high-quality early supports are available together—so every child has the foundation to thrive from the very start.
This investment also recognizes Pennsylvania’s long-standing, cross-sector work to strengthen identification, coordination, and policy responses for infants, toddlers, and expectant parents experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Through the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning’s (OCDEL) McKinney-Vento Advisory Group’s leadership, Pennsylvania has built a strong foundation of systems coordination, data use, and practice improvement across early childhood, housing, health, and maternal systems. Thrive from the Start funding will allow the state to deepen its prenatal–to–three (PN-3) focus, align systems around a shared PN-3 policy agenda, and elevate evidence-informed strategies grounded in both data and lived experience.
Pennsylvania’s award will be fiscally managed by the Susquehanna Education Foundation and implemented through the leadership of the OCDEL McKinney-Vento Advisory Group, with grant coordination led by the Pennsylvania Head Start State Collaboration Office. The Advisory Group includes the Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness program and core HSCO partners Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, Trying Together, and Maternity Care Coalition.
For more information, contact Tracy Duarte at tradua@pakeys.org.