Category: Children - PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER

PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER

CWG Get Ready for School

8/9/2022

A Woman Ms Hartranft

Ms. Hartranft, SDP Program Manager

A Woman Ms Landy

Ms. Landy, Asst. Dir. of Educating Children & Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Children’s Work Group Conferences Announced!

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.

Welcome Sierra Austin

8/9/2022

Welcome ECE Specialist, Sierra Austin

A Woman Sierra Austin

Please welcome a new member to the BELL Project Team, Sierra Austin, Early Childhood Education Specialist.

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.

Learn more about our BELL program

Enrollment Time for Head Start

8/9/2022

Teacher and children

Children at Youth Service, Inc.'s Baring House Nursery with that program's Director.

Hey, Philly Emergency and Transitional Housing Programs:
Time to Enroll Children into Head Start!

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.

Ask City Council to Increase Funding for Prevention

5/31/2022

To Prevent or Not to Prevent Homelessness – That is the Question, Philadelphia!

Rachel is a single mom of 3 children, all of whom have disabilities. She owed five months of past-due rent and was being taken to court in three weeks for eviction when she reached out to PEC’s Homelessness Prevention Program. She lacked the ability to pay back all that debt and was preparing to be evicted and enter emergency shelter.

BELL Project and System Breakdowns

5/15/2022

BELL Project Addresses System Breakdowns to Support
Working Parents in Shelter and Their Children

A shelter liaison reached out to a BELL Project Early Childhood Education Specialist. The staff person was concerned. She needed assistance with a family enrollment issue that had just been shared with her. The parent had the following concerns:

She had a job but may no longer be able to keep it due to childcare issues arising from unreceived subsidy payments.
She tried to go through both the Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC) and her worker at the welfare office, but neither were responding.
She didn’t know what else to do.

Everyday Learning Play Spaces Engages Families

5/15/2022

In their Own Words: Families and Staff with Everyday Learning Play Spaces!

PEC's Everyday Learning Play Spaces team has been working hard recently engaging with the staff and families at our current sites: Darlene Morris, Jane Addams Place, Families Forward Philadelphia, and Woodstock Family Center. We have received illustrative and rich feedback regarding what the staff and families would like to see our project accomplish.

Play and Learning Event for Parents Living in Temporary Housing

5/15/2022

For Parents Living in Emergency and Permanent Supportive Housing: “Play and Learning: Fun for Families and the Developing Child!”

May 24th from 2:00 to 3:30 on Zoom

Register now for the first joint Meet & Greet from the BELL Project and Everyday Learning Play Spaces! We will be playing games to discover how learning through play is fun and beneficial for both children and adults. There will be gift card giveaways!

This online event is designed for parents staying in emergency, transitional, and permanent supportive housing. Come for a fun time and leave with ideas and strategies on how to integrate learning through play into all aspects of your family’s life! Staff from housing programs and early childhood education programs are also welcome.

Map Shows Child Care Works Program Use by Legislative District

5/15/2022

Every Child Deserves Quality Childcare, But Are They Receiving It?

The PA Partnerships for Children (PPC) posted interactive child care maps created for the Start Strong PA campaign that shows childcare availability by Congressional, PA House, PA Senate, School District, and County levels.

Family Homelessness: Leadership from Candidates, Lawmakers

4/28/2022

Children Cannot Wait Campaign Update: Leadership from PA Senator Vincent Hughes, and US Senate Candidates Malcolm Kenyatta and Conor Lamb

A trend that concerns the Children Cannot Wait Campaign is that from 2011 through 2019, the number of school-aged children experiencing homelessness in our commonwealth jumped from 28,000 to more than 40,000. A quarter of those are younger than school age. At this rate of growth, PEC estimates that Pennsylvania could identify more than 50,000 children and youth experiencing homelessness by 2026.

True Stories from the Front Lines: Rental Assistance

3/30/2022

Housing Challenges Facing Our Families

Jade and Mark (their names have been changed to protect their privacy) have three children and have been struggling to keep up with rent. They are both employed, but their hours were cut drastically due to the pandemic. They often went weeks without any income. As a result, they fell behind on their rent payments and were served a notice to vacate by their landlord in January.

PEC was able to pay their entire debt and work with their landlord to remove the threat of eviction. Since receiving rent assistance, Jade and Mark went back to work. They are now able to move forward without fear of losing their home.

Upon exiting the program Jade said, "Thank you so much. This is so appreciated. Everything is falling into place because of your continued help and my faith. Thank you.”

Text PECCARES to 844-961-3547 for PEC news!

People's Emergency Center

Main Office: (267) 777-5880
Email: pec@pec-cares.org

PEC Community Development Corporation

Community Resource Hotline: (267) 777-5477
Email: peccdc@pec-cares.org

Policy & Research

Phone: (267) 777-5851
Email: policy@pec-cares.org

Social Media

@PeoplesEmergency Center

@PECCaresPhilly

@lancavephilly