Allies for Children

10/08/2026

Allegheny County is considering paid parental leave for all, a policy that would help newborns and new parents thrive. Our friends at Pittsburgh UNITED invite you to attend the virtual paid parental leave town hall on Monday, October 12th, featuring Congressman Chris Deluzio, Council Member Lissa Geiger Shulman, and other special guests.

To join, sign up here: https://lnkd.in/g5vcHvE6

To read articles from NPR, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and the New Pittsburgh Courier about the policy and its importance, see the links in the comments.

10/05/2026

Thanks to Liz Caples at the Gettysburg Times for her coverage of the proposed Federal changes that would significantly rewrite Head Start Program Performance Standards governing class size, staffing, health and mental health services, workforce qualifications, transportation, and other critical components of Head Start and Early Head Start. Tomorrow is the deadline for public comment at Regulations.gov, use your voice today to help PA's most vulnerable children.

https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/basket/federal-head-start-rewrite-draws-pa-concern-as-comment-deadline-nears/article_eb39023e-f7e1-44ca-9498-f2238f069600.html

More than 30,000 Pennsylvania children could see changes in classroom staffing, health services, transportation and other supports under a sweeping proposed rewrite of federal Head Start standards that remains open

09/30/2026

Allies for Children joined regional partners in a press conference that shed light on the unintended consequences to children created by the cuts to SNAP and Medicaid benefits from H.R. 1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) last July.

As AFC Policy Director Cristina Codario stated, "In theory, the changes to SNAP and Medicaid were not intended to affect children. But in reality, this is nowhere near the case: Since the changes were made last July, more than 7,000 children in Allegheny County have lost SNAP benefits."

As H.R.1 cuts persist to both SNAP and Medicaid, Allies for Children will continue to advocate for these important benefits while getting needed information to those that rely on these benefits most.

Watch the full event here: https://youtu.be/TVMRw1oTmIg
See full article links in comments.

07/24/2026

Allies for Children's Medicaid Toolkit is complete! If you've heard about the upcoming changes to Medicaid and want to learn more about them and how to support your community, click here ->

Allies for Children recently released our Medicaid Toolkit to help. This Toolkit contains an overview of Medicaid, as well as sections that have a “deeper dive” into specific policy areas.

07/17/2026

Allies for Children supports Allegheny County's Paid Parental Leave initiative and encourage the Allegheny County Council to identify ways to support small businesses, schools, and nonprofits to make paid leave a viable reality. See AFC's full comments on the initiative here: https://tinyurl.com/jjy9zyr7

07/16/2026

On July 12, twelve days after the June 30 deadline, the General Assembly approved and sent to the Governor a final budget for FY 2026-2027. The enacted budget is a 1.4% increase over last year’s budget and includes some bright spots for children and families. Click to read more:

On July 12, twelve days after the June 30 deadline, the Pennsylvania General Assembly approved and sent to the Governor a final budget for FY 2026-2027. The enacted budget is a 1.4% increase over last year’s budget and includes some bright spots for children and families. Specific details are belo...

07/09/2026

Allies for Children is honored to share a blog written by Dr. Iulia Vann, Public Health Director at the Allegheny County Health Department. Read about how paid family leave helps improve health outcomes for both infants and parents here:

From a public health perspective, Paid Parental Leave is not simply a workplace benefit. It is a population health strategy.

07/03/2026

A recent America After 3 PM report from the Afterschool Alliance found that 40% of Allegheny County families who would like their child to be in a summer program do not have access to one. The Executive Director of APOST discusses the importance of summer learning programs and how the county and state can support them in a new blog:

For families with children in summer programs, 96% of parents express strong satisfaction with the programs that their kids are attending, and 91% express a strong desire to see more public investment in summer learning programs.

07/02/2026

The deadline to approve the state budget has passed, making this the fifth year in a row with no resolution by July 1. Read about the current status of the budget in our new blog:

Pennsylvania’s constitutional budget deadline was June 30, but unfortunately, for the fifth year in a row, there was no agreement by this date.

05/22/2026

Engagement with Out-of-School Time programs has been shown to increase positive outcomes for students, and Pennsylvania is investing $2 million to support these vital programs in Allegheny County. Read more in our new blog:

In April, Lt. Governor Austin Davis announced roughly $2 million of grant funding to Allegheny County specific to OST programs via BOOST funding. The dollars from BOOST give many OST locations greater capacity to serve Pennsylvania students.