During Week of the Young Child, our Burchfield Pre-K classroom was filled with creativity, collaboration, and joyful learning experiences! We kicked off the week with Music Monday, where students designed their own musical instruments using paper plates and dried...
Families enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start of Fayette County were invited to “The Garden Party” held at the Lemont Furnace Head Start Center on April 15, 2026. The theme of the event was to focus on skills from the program’s School Readiness Goals. We also...
February is National Children’s Dental Health Month and our afterschool students at Nicely Elementary learned about good oral hygiene and developing good dental habits to promote healthy teeth and gums.
The Private Industry Council (PIC) was pleased to serve as a valued partner to the Western PA Operating Engineers, beginning with preparation coursework on January 10th & 17th, 2026 and concluding with testing held from January 21st - 27th. Operating engineers are...
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Head Start / Early Head Start FAQs The Private Industry Council discusses frequently asked questions for Head Start and Early Head Start students. Private Industry Council operates the Head Start / Early Head Start program for Beaver and Fayette Counties in the...
The Employment Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) is funded through the Department of Human Services (DHS). EARN been re-designed for the 2020-2021 Program Year. EARN’s primary emphasis in the past years has been on employment for clients. The re-design is to provide a range of services to meet individuals’ needs, including access to education and training opportunities to move clients towards family economic stability. The program is based on human-centered design and includes a combination of case management, coaching, licensed counseling, and peer to peer experiences to develop a career pathway through job placement and job retention goals for the participants referred from the County Assistance Office (CAO).
The EARN program does not recruit clients. County assistance office (CAO) staff, in Westmoreland and Fayette counties will determine eligibility for the EARN program and refer clients to EARN based on CAO policy and procedures. The clients must be receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and ineligible for or declining Diversion, may be referred to the EARN contractor. The hours of participation are determined by the household composition for TANF.
The EARN staff will conduct a case review to become familiar with the client’s background and situation in order to determine what additional assistance the participant will need to achieve family economic security.
New for the 2020-2021 program year, the EARN staff must conduct an in-person comprehensive household assessment that identifies participant strengths and barriers to employment and family economic security. As part of the assessment, the participant’s social indicators of health (SIOH) shall be identified, including but not limited to:
The EARN staff and client will review the assessment agree to several goals and the steps to achieve the goals.
Another change made to the EARN program by DHS is more emphasis on education/training for our clients. It is encourage to have clients train in an industry approved program, which will help them obtain a better paying job and sustain their employment.
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