May 10 County Executive Releases Action Plan With a Focus on Children

May 10h in Bold Voices by

(May 10, 2024)

Since beginning her term in January, County Executive Sara Innamorato and her team have been hearing from the residents of Allegheny County and developing a plan to address their needs. After holding five community conversations across the county and receiving survey responses from almost 19,000 Allegheny County residents, the county executive released the All In Allegheny Action Plan. This plan outlines 91 steps that the county executive and her administration will take during her first term to respond to the needs of residents throughout the county.

Reading through the plan, it was interesting to hear the numbers on who participated in this enormous effort. As mentioned above, about 19,000 residents participated in the survey, and another 650 people participated in the five community conversations. The residents came from all 130 municipalities, 121 out of 125 zip codes in the county, included over 20% of the respondents identifying as people of color, 27% as having a disability, 12% as identifying as LGBTQIA+, 20% from households with incomes less than $40,000/year, and people from every age group. By collecting over 648,000 data points from participants, the plan focuses on nine critical policy areas: Healthy Families and High-Quality Human Services; Housing For All; Open and Accessible Government; Reliable, Modern Transportation and Infrastructure; Robust Education, Workforce Development, and Youth Investments; Safe Communities and Justice For All; Strong and Equitable Economic and Community Development; Sustainability, Environmental Justice, and A Green Economy; and Vibrant Democracy.

The Action Plan lists several “Clear Community Priorities” – “what residents want and need from county government”- and first among them is: “Make child care and care for older adults more affordable, and expand programs for youth.” This section continues on by saying that “residents of all races, ethnicities and ages were aligned on two priorities: ‘Make sure every family can access affordable child care, including providing financial assistance to families’ and ‘Expand high-quality before- and after-school programs, and summer programs, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.’” Additionally, the Action Plan states that Black residents specifically highlighted expanding high-quality youth programs as their number one option to “promote safety in their neighborhoods.” Seeing this in print reinforces what we already know: Child care and out-of-school time programs are economic issues and are crucial to working families. They provide safe learning environments for children and allow parents and caregivers to go to work knowing that their children are being cared for. The Allegheny County Department of Children Initiatives focuses on these issues and Allies for Children is proud to be a strong advocate and supporter of that office and the fantastic work that they do. We are thankful and energized by the county executive’s support and acknowledgement of the important role of child care and out-of-school time programs.

Diving into the 91 Action Steps, the county executive has organized the plan based on the community priority areas and then outlined timelines for accomplishing each step (6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc). All steps are intended to be completed within the county executive’s first four-year term.

Some of the specific highlights in the Action Plan related to children, youth, and families include:

  • Expand social-emotional learning in schools, in partnership with the Intermediate Unit
  • Support the Teen Mental Health Collaborative – of which Allies for Children is a supporting member
  • Create new mental health and postpartum mobile health units
  • Pioneer a new, centralized technology system that will make it easy to find youth mental health services
  • Launch a large-scale, community-driven public health campaign to reduce a priority chronic disease in Allegheny County
  • Expand the effective Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program
  • Expand the effective Best Babies Zone model
  • Expand the Hello Baby network of support for families with new babies – this includes home visiting programs, which Allies for Children’s supports through the Childhood Begins at Home campaign
  • Increase enrollment in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program – Allies for Children is a statewide leader in advocating for increased access to WIC
  • Purchase existing affordable housing units with expiring affordability requirements and convert them into affordable housing
  • Create a Housing Advisory Board in the Health Department
  • Expanding the Allegheny Lead-Safe Homes Program
  • Launch a participatory budgeting program with young residents, in partnership with the County’s Learn and Earn program
  • Make it easier for residents to find information about services provided by the County
  • Partner with Water Authorities serving Allegheny municipalities to apply for federal funding dedicated to replacing lead service lines across the county, with a focus on Black and Brown communities disproportionately impacted by lead exposure
  • Continue to identify additional federal, state, private, philanthropic, and local funding to address the urgent need for more child care and out-of-school time in the County
  • Increased access to child care/early learning for families who may not be eligible for Child Care Works subsidy or other publically funded program but need child care.
    • While the plan doesn’t specifically mention expanding the Allegheny County Child Care Matters pilot program, it does say that the administration plans to “expand subsidized child care support, including specific support for working families who make more than Child Care Works eligibility but still cannot afford child care.” This section also highlights expanding non-traditional child care and providing child care for Hello Baby.
  • Advocating to increase wages for child care and out-of-school time workers.
  • Making it easier for families to find child care options that meet their needs
  • Increased access to out-of-school programming for school-age children, including summer programs – This line includes expanding the school-community summer program partnership, led by the Department of Children Initiatives to all 43 public school districts
  • Maximizing all state and federal funds that could be used to invest in Allegheny’s children
  • Launch a new program, this year, in which trained mental health professionals will respond to mental health crisis 911 calls in partnership with police departments in McKees Rocks, Penn Hills, Monroeville and the Allegheny County Housing Authority
  • Work to expand pathways in good, public service jobs with the County for young people, including promoting paid opportunities with the Parks Department
  • Promote – and work to secure additional resources for – workforce development programs specifically designed for young people
  • Work to create a RAD Pass specifically designed for youth
  • Work with philanthropic partners to create a microgrant program that will support young people and community-based organizations to host fun, free activities in their neighborhoods

We look forward to working with County Executive Innamorato, Allegheny County agencies, and partners to accomplish this exciting work in the next four years!

Jamie Baxter, Allies for Children Executive Director