Pa. welfare chief quits to join nonprofit

HARRISBURG - Public Welfare Secretary Harriet Dichter is leaving the Rendell administration to launch the Washington office of a nonprofit organization devoted to influencing federal policy on early education.

Dichter is joining the First Five Years Fund, which on its website lists its goal as ensuring that the interests of at-risk children from birth to age 5 are included in policy and funding decisions across the country. The organization also works to attract public- and private-sector investment in the early-childhood field.

"Early-childhood education has long been a passion for me, and we have been able to do tremendous things in Pennsylvania under Gov. Rendell to bolster our early-childhood development programs to benefit millions of families," Dichter said in a statement issued Tuesday. "I am looking forward to bringing that commitment to the nation's capital."

Dichter's last day is Wednesday. The governor has tapped Michael Nardone, deputy secretary for the Public Welfare Department's Office of Medical Assistance Programs, to serve as acting secretary.

Dichter was named the acting secretary in December after her predecessor, longtime Philadelphian Estelle Richman, left for a job in the Obama administration.

Before taking the reins of the department, Dichter was the state's first deputy secretary for the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, where she led efforts to bolster early-childhood education.

Before joining the Rendell administration, Dichter was part of the management team at the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. She also worked at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she oversaw national grant-making for children's health and early-childhood education.

Dichter also was the first nonphysician to run Philadelphia's Office of Maternal and Child Health.

or acouloumbis@phillynews.com.