Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mayor proposes fund to improve child care facilities

- By Elizabeth Behrman Elizabeth Behrman: Lbehrman@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1590 or @Ebehrman on Twitter.

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday will consider a new plan to create a $2 million fund to improve child care facilities across the city.

Mayor Bill Peduto’s office has proposed the creation of the City of Pittsburgh Childcare Quality Fund to offer grants to help local child care facilities “upgrade and improve” to obtain high-quality designatio­ns from the state. The money would not only help child care providers improve their facilities and their offerings, but receiving highqualit­y designatio­ns would also help them tap into additional funding from Early Head Start, Head Start and Pre-K Counts to serve more children from low-income or moderate-income households.

According to a news release from the mayor’s office, only about 19 percent of Pittsburgh’s child care facilities have a STAR 3 or STAR 4 designatio­n, the highest they could get from the state. Facilities with that designatio­n follow the state’s Early Learning Standards and employ staff members with extensive education and training in child developmen­t and education.

The new fund would allow facilities across the city to access money for building upgrades as well as new curricula, new supplies and profession­al developmen­t for staff members. The money would be administer­ed via the Alliance for Infants and Toddlers, a partner of the Allegheny County Early Learning Resource Center, with oversight by a committee of city officials and child developmen­t experts.

“I am committed to ensuring that all children in the city of Pittsburgh have access to high quality early learning and Pre-K. This grant fund will provide child care facilities with the means to improve their programs and will build the number of quality seats that we have in the city,” Mr. Peduto said in a statement. “This is a big step toward my goal of offering universal Pre-K.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States