Birth to Five
DCI’s Birth to Five efforts focus on addressing the challenges and systemic barriers Allegheny County’s families have in accessing quality child care and early learning services for their youngest children. Early learning services can include child care, Head Start/Early Head Start, early literacy programming, as well as general resources and support. DCI partners with county departments, community-based organizations, program providers, families, and other community partners to identify and address barriers to access, with a particular focus on unserved and underserved communities.
Within the Birth to Five sector, DCI supports children, families, and programs through piloting opportunities to increase equitable access to child care and early learning opportunities, increasing the capacity of birth to five programs, like child care, for young children and families, and striving for equitable systems change. DCI collaborates with early childhood professionals, families, schools, and community partners to ensure all children and families have access to the resources and programming needed to reach their fullest potential.
Initiatives
Child Care Access for Recovery-to-Work Opportunities
Building on the initial programming funded by the Opioid Use Disorder Settlement that supported Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships expansion, and by leveraging key partnerships and expertise in systems-level child care capacity and access building, DCI is working to expand Allegheny County’s recovery-to-workforce ecosystem by removing child care as a barrier to work and recovery opportunities. This work is done in partnership with Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center (COTRAIC), Partner4Work, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), The Birmingham Foundation, and supported by the Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC). All partners work together to create a recovery-to-employment continuum that invests in recovery and re-entry supports to ensure that individuals in OUS/SUD recovery can enter and stay in the workforce. This project is supported by funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems Initiative (ARC INSPIRE), The Opioid Use Disorder Settlement Funds, and the Birmingham Foundation.
Child Care Indoor Air Quality Improvement Pilot
This program, in partnership with the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), serves to improve the indoor air quality of regulated child care programs located in environmental justice communities as identified by the ACHD’s Environmental Justice Index. The pilot’s goals are to reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2), and other common respiratory infections, as well as reducing the number of upper respiratory infections in young children. Through this, Allegheny County seeks to understand if these reductions can decrease the frequency and severity of asthma flares in children as well as improving children’s program attendance rates. The first cohort of this pilot began in Fall 2023 and additional opportunities to apply will be announced through DCI mailing list communications.
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