County child care gets a big boost with federal funding

Beau Comans spent the first several minutes of Wednesday’s news conference at the Each One Teach One Learning Center in Wilkinsburg sitting in his father Dontae Comans’ lap. Looking sporty in a red and white striped shirt, he pointed at things around the room — gold stars taped to the wall, cotton-ball clouds dangling from the ceiling — and charmed reporters and photographers with his smile.

It was odd to think of this 10-month-old child in terms of infrastructure in those moments. But in the context of the conversation swirling around him, it certainly made sense. His care, and the care of all children, “is a type of infrastructure,” said U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, who stopped by the center to announce the allocation of $600,000 in funding to support child care in Allegheny County.

“Child care is part of the social fabric that has for so long been taken for granted,” Deluzio said.

The federal funding goes to the Early Excellence Project, a nonprofit organization that supports child care centers in mostly Black and brown communities.

Families in these neighborhoods often have a difficult time finding care that is affordable, accessible and truly beneficial to their children. A center may not exist in a family’s neighborhood, and if a center does exist, it may not provide an environment that prepares children for kindergarten or elementary school. Transportation is sometimes an issue for families.

Because of these and other issues, only 14% of the state’s Black children attend quality child care programs, said DaVonna Shannon, EEP’s director of research and evaluation.

The newly announced funding will allow EEP to prepare existing Allegheny County child care centers to “receive more children and serve them in a way that makes a difference, not just house children,” Shannon said. “We like to get away from the thought of child care as a day care or a babysitter. This is education, high-quality education, with high expectations and interactions with families.”

More specifically, EEP will help centers earn accreditation, improve their facilities, develop curriculum and provide professional development opportunities for staff.

The state provides a ranking system for child care centers — it’s called the Keystone STARS program. Centers earn quality rankings ranging from STAR 1 to STAR 5. If EEP can assist a child care center in reaching a STAR 4 rating, the center becomes eligible for more state subsidies, which makes it more sustainable.

Deluzio said that nearly 60% of Pennsylvania residents live in “child care deserts” — areas where there are more than three times as many children as licensed child care slots.

This lack of truly beneficial child care centers is expensive. It costs working families in the state $2.5 billion each year in lost earnings, productivity and benefits, according to a study by Ready Nation’s Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission.

Inadequate child care also has long-term effects on children such as Beau Comans, son of Wilkinsburg Mayor Dontae Comans and his wife, Ashley, the borough’s school board director. Beau settled himself several minutes into the news conference and relaxed in his mother’s arms.

“When children are not kindergarten ready, when we see gaps happening as early as [kindergarten through second grade], that impacts the graduation rates all the way through high school,” said Lyasha Bishop, executive director of EEP.

“When we come in and provide a curriculum that is based in literacy, math and scientific thinking as early as toddlers and preschool, we get them ready for kindergarten. They’re reading before they go into kindergarten. And we’re stopping some of those gaps and delays and seeing the results all the way through high school and college.”