Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children’s (PPC) work leading the Pritzker Children’s Initiative Prenatal-to-Age-Three state planning grant continues, with a full policy agenda expected by the end of the year.
The leadership team of the initiative recently traveled to Atlanta with the nine other states and the District of Columbia who are part of the planning grant process. The PA team was joined by various state officials, showcasing the partnership of advocates and the administration in this initiative. The group worked on refining the policy agenda and compared notes with Pritzker and other states on best practices moving forward.
Currently the agenda is comprehensive and ranges in topic from child care to prenatal/maternal health, and from home visiting to children’s health, including lead exposure, nutrition, insurance coverage and infant and toddler mental health.
Keep an eye out in the next few weeks, as our subgroups will continue meeting to finalize the agenda and the full table of advocates and state partners will meet again in person in November. In the meantime, PPC is partnering with the United Way of Pennsylvania to conduct a series of community engagement events throughout the state to gather parent and provider input. Next up on the calendar is an event in Johnstown on November 7, 2019.
At the conclusion of the planning grant process, PPC will be eligible to apply for an implementation grant to execute the policy agenda currently being developed. Of the ten states in the planning process, up to five will be selected for this phase of the work. We will keep you posted on our progress as we move closer to early 2020!