Philadelphia

In 2017, Philadelphia implemented a sweetened beverage tax to fund the city's Pre-K program. The tax charges distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages 1.5 cents per ounce. In its first year, it generated nearly $79 million in revenue, creating 2,000 pre-K slots. From 2017 to 2022, the tax generated $409 million for the city. Pre-K programs received $158.1 million, or 38.6% of that revenue.

Since 2017, the Philadelphia Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program has been led by the District 1199c Training & Upgrading Fund. Partner organizations include the Community College of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children. The program supports apprentices by helping them earn college credits and participate in classroom instruction, on-the-job training, and mentorship. It receives public workforce development funding under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The Training Fund began developing its apprenticeship model in 2015, and the organization produces guides for replication.

Sources:

Early Childhood Action Collective. (n.d.). Philadelphia Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program. EditSign

District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund. (n.d.). Program Replication Tool Kit.

Philadelphia’s Office of Integrated Data for Evidence and Action was created in 2022 to host the city’s integrated data system. The system collects, stores, links administrative records on demographic, program, individual data on social services across multiple city programs (e.g., birth records, health records, foster care, pre-K, early intervention) and agencies (e.g., Education, Early Childhood, Housing). The private individual-level data is matched and deidentified using an internal matching system. The data system is used internally for policymaking and research in the city and has strong ties to Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Office of Integrated Data for Evidence and Action was created by Mayor James Kenney’s Executive Order 2-22. But the city's integrated data system—formerly known as both CARES and KIDS—had existed since 2002, funded by seed grants from William Penn Foundation and by a collaboration among the City of Philadelphia, the School District of Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania.