A new report from ReadyNation shows the cost of gaps in Pennsylvania’s child care system has grown by almost $1 billion annually, costing the state’s economy well over $6 billion every year. The analysis finds that inadequate child care is driving major losses for working parents, employers, and taxpayers alike, underscoring how deeply child care challenges affect Pennsylvania’s workforce and economic strength.

At a time when employers need a reliable workforce and families need dependable care, this report makes clear that child care is not just a family issue, but an economic one. The findings highlight the urgent need for solutions to help parents find and afford child care so they can work, as well as for a stable, robust child care system that supports the economy and strengthens Pennsylvania’s long-term prosperity.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) plays a vital role in preparing students for today’s rapidly evolving workforce. By integrating rigorous academics with technical training and hands-on, real-world experience, CTE equips students with the skills and credentials needed to succeed, whether they choose to enter the workforce directly after high school or pursue postsecondary education along a defined career pathway. Student interest in CTE continues to grow; however, access to these programs has not kept pace with this rising demand.

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children’s (PPC) newest CTE fact sheet, Career and Technical Education: Investing in Pennsylvania’s Future, outlines strategies to close the gap and ensure equitable access to high-quality CTE opportunities. Policymakers must prioritize sustained, increased investments in the state budget. A key step to attain this goal is to fully fund Governor Shapiro’s proposed $14.3 million increase to the Career and Technical Education Subsidy line in the 2026–27 budget. This investment would ease financial pressure on local school districts, enabling them to expand or develop programs in high-demand industry sectors. It would also address significant disparities in access across the state, ensuring that all students, regardless of location, can benefit from meaningful, career-connected learning opportunities.

Each year, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) creates interactive maps for the Pre-K for PA campaign, and our 2026 maps and corresponding fact sheets are now available. Data on pre-k is available at the statewide, county, school district, and legislative district levels. The maps highlight the unmet need for high-quality, publicly funded pre-k at each geographic level, including data points such as the eligible child populations, high-quality, publicly funded enrollment, and the number of high-quality pre-k locations.

Statewide, of the 138,613 eligible children ages 3 and 4 living in Pennsylvania, only 48% have access to high-quality pre-kindergarten. With workforce challenges in the sector, an additional 7,152 pre-k educators are needed to serve the remaining eligible children.

For meaningful progress toward building an affordable, high-quality pre-k system that benefits children and families, the Pre-K for PA is asking the General Assembly for the following investments in the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget:

• $2 million increase for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program.
• $7.5 million increase for Pre-K Counts.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides data on the prevalence of heart disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke among adults age 45 and older by level of rurality, using data from the CDC’s 2024 National Health Interview Survey. 

Special Needs Plans (SNPs) are Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that provide benefits and services to people with specific conditions, health care needs, or who also have Medicaid.

This brief examines recent trends in MA SNP enrollment by type and geographic variation across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. 

With support from HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) has been updating their Topic Guides that bring together key resources and information in one spot.

Newly updated this week: Social Determinants of Health for Rural People, and Conducting Rural Health Research, Needs Assessments, and Program Evaluations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new United States Cancer Statistics report examining cancer incidence and death rates in the U.S. from 2018–2022.  Deaths for each of the common cancer types were higher in non-metropolitan (rural) counties than in metropolitan counties.  The report includes a data visualization tool that allows you to filter the data by age and sex as well as rurality.