We hope you are enjoying your summer. The next CWGEC Conferences will be in August and September!  ​Get Ready for New School Year in August with Ms. Hartranft & Ms. Landy. Learn about health issues facing our families in September with Dr. Felice Le-Scherban and others from Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health. 

We thank Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania General Assembly for increasing funds for early childhood education. We especially thank State Senator Vincent Hughes for his tireless advocacy for young children experiencing homelessness as reflected in the new state budget.  Together, they were able to add these new investments:  

• $60 million for Pre-K Counts 
• $19 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program.   
• Provide, increase or enhance partnerships between a school and community‐based nonprofit organizations to provide out of school programming for at‐risk school‐age students, $100 million for youth mental services, via formula grant to school districts;  
• Early Intervention for infants and toddlers increased by $9.3 million 

• CHIP (Children Health Insurance) increases by $40 million

Please welcome a new member to the BELL Project Team, Sierra Austin, Early Childhood Education Specialist.
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Sierra came to Philadelphia with dreams of learning more about the country’s Criminal Justice system, as well as to better understand how adversity impacts a person, and the shaping of human behavior. Those dreams came true after she earned degrees in Criminal Justice and Psychology at Temple University. She also continued on at Temple University and earned her Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice, with a focus on Black Criminology and Intersectionality. Sierra has gained her advocacy and social service experience after working in the Risk Reduction and Advocacy Unit of the Temple University Police Department. She currently works to assist service providers in connecting families experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity to high-quality early childhood education programs. 
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Learn more about our BELL program

PEC's Building Early Links for Learning Project (BELL) team encourages all emergency and transitional housing programs to support their families of age-eligible children to enroll into Head Start. Research and experience shows that young children experiencing homelessness benefit from time in high-quality early childhood education programs like Head Start.
 The School District of Philadelphia and other agencies manage enrollment of children for many Head Start programs. Here are different ways to get the application process going: 

• Fill out an online application (quickest turn-around). 
• Attend an Enrollment Event
• Follow the School District of Philadelphia's Application page for more options to apply​​

​Check out Early Childhood Education – The School District of Philadelphia (philasd.org) for more information.

In May 2022, BELL Children’s Work Group Conference used a distinctive format, commonly called a Fishbowl Activity to engage housing staff around their work. Shelter staff discussed their challenges and successes of supporting young children experiencing homelessness. There are few moments where we get the opportunity to simple be, do, and say what keeps us and our work “afloat” especially during a pandemic.  This moment proved invaluable for participants. 

In June 2022, BELL increased its reach to early care and education professionals by offering two hours of Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) training to providers across Pennsylvania. This opportunity helped early care staff meet their STAR level training requirements.  Early Head Start, Head Start, family, group and childcare programs attended.  As a result, BELL was able to connect with providers in Philadelphia, Allegheny, and Delaware counties and more, addressing the needs of children and families experiencing adversity and homelessness. 

On Wednesday, July 27, the Building Early Links for Learning Permanent Supportive Housing (BELL-PSH) Parent Ambassadors participated in Families Forward Philadelphia’s Annual Resource Fair.  The event provided resources to families about housing, health, and education.  Other participants included the School District of Philadelphia, City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health, the West Philadelphia Promise Zone and Action for Early Learning.  The team engaged the residents at Families Forward with games and activities around child development and school readiness.  They laughed. They learned. They ate water ice.  Thanks to Families Forward for allowing us to be part of it. 

If you're interested in having BELL-PSH visit your housing program, contact Todd Hopkins at thopkins@pec-cares.org.​

July is here! Time for our 7th Annual Summer Book Club. We hope you will join us on The Lawn at University Square (3701 Filbert Street) from 4:30pm to 6:30 pm on the following Fridays: July 29, August 12, August 26, September 9, and September 23. The books we are reading this summer are a mix of fiction and non-fiction.

Mural Arts Philadelphia has partnered with SHOT: We the People to create a public art exhibition of 30 large-scale vinyl photographs from the project to be shown on the Saunders Park Greene iron fence directly across the street from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (between 38th & 39th Streets along Powelton Avenue). SHOT: We the People, a multi-media platform where users can interact and share their stories about gun violence in America, presents its first project on the SHOT platform, SHOT: We the Mothers (SWTM).