Our Staff is made up of a group of caring, compassionate individuals. Our Lead teachers have years of experience caring for children. We are committed to providing top quality care and education for students who are enrolled in our program. Our goal is to enhance the lives of every child that attends our facility. Our staff is required to obtain child care credentials in order to be a part of our team beginning with CDAs to Masters Degrees.

Allene Thomas opened and operated a group home for almost 20 years in Wilkinsburg called Thomas Home Child Care. She made sure to maintain a quality environment and always emphasize that” it is all about the kids.” Her goal was to make sure everything was done exactly the way it should be. Any program offered like “Head Start”, “Keystone Stars”, CDA etc. she would apply and make sure that her home child care and staff acquired the qualifications needed so that the children in our neighborhood “were given a better chance to succeed.” She would allow all of her grandchildren to” help” after-school and during the summers. While all other children were outside playing or spending time with their friends, Aneia and Adrian were doing some kind of teaching whether it was teaching someone to tie their shoes or helping them write their names. Even though the children at the daycare were only a couple years younger than them, helping the other children was a big accomplishment and they took pride in sharing the details of their day. Allene would always encourage all the children, especially her grandchildren to pursue a higher education despite what anyone said.

In 2015 Allene decided after working over 50 years, she was ready to retire. She contemplated on how she could retire and maintain the legacy that she created to continue to help children. After talking to her youngest daughter Valisa they came up with a plan. She would assist Valisa in running the family business as having worked in Corporate America for 20 years and ready for a change. Although Valisa had received an undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and a Masters degree from Robert Morris University and has a love for children, she had no experience in the child care industry. Allene and Valisa both then enrolled in the Wilkinsburg CDC Core Four Small Business Program to help determine the best way to make this transition. This program was the start of allowing them to make the decision to expand and Valisa enrolling in numerous child care courses to receive the needed credentials. That same year, Valisa made a leap of faith to leave Corporate America to work full-time for Thomas Home Child Care. They continued to work together for 2 years until they finally found the perfect location for their new child care Center. In June of 2017, they opened Thomas Child Care and Learning Academy. Timing was perfect, Aneia was just about to graduate from Point Park University with an Education degree and Adrian had also changed his major in college to Education. They would both work for the new child care center.

We opened with 8 children from the 12 enrolled at Thomas Home Child care in Penn Hills, PA. We quickly increased our enrollment and begin establishing our center. We are now a 3 generational 4 Star facility offering EHS, teaching sign language to our children and have recently opened a community virtual learning hub for school age children serving over 40 children total. We as a family realize the importance of a safe, quality learning environment. We continue to strive to be the best for our children and families daily.