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SALINAS — With the funding of a virtually $500,000 state grant, Hartnell College is about to present college students with extra equitable entry to early childhood education.
The three-year grant, awarded to Hartnell final month by means of the California Apprenticeship Initiative, will go towards the event of an Early Childhood Pathways/Apprenticeship program to be launched by means of the school subsequent fall. Once established, the inaugural program will information 25 college students a 12 months towards a future in early childhood education, with an emphasis on serving aspiring lecturers who face earnings and language boundaries.
Ultimately, Hartnell hopes that these not simply no value however paid apprenticeships will serve a twofold objective of coaching new youngster care professionals for Monterey County whereas introducing these to the sphere who won’t have in any other case had the chance to achieve this.
“Nobody can go to work if they don’t have a place to send their kids in the morning,” stated Iván Pagan, director of the Hartnell-based Salinas Valley Adult Education Consortium. “(So) early childhood education is kind of a linchpin upon which all other industries depend.”
Pagan and his workforce on the Salinas Valley Adult Education Consortium — a semi-autonomous group that operates in tandem with Hartnell — introduced the concept of instilling extra fairness in early childhood education to the school over a 12 months in the past. After talking with neighborhood members and school at Hartnell, Pagan noticed a continued pattern of English as a Second Language (ESL) college students dropping out of early childhood education courses due to a language barrier, he defined.
So the Salinas Valley Adult Education Consortium started to lay the groundwork for a distinct and accessible pipeline to the profession subject, beginning with a pre-apprenticeship program. Launched final fall, the anticipatory initiative enrolled 20 college students in preparatory seminars and an ESL course tailor-made to early childhood education, held at each Hartnell’s Soledad Education Center and the Soledad Adult School.
“We’re giving (students) this year to get a head start so when they start their apprenticeships, they’ll have the boost they need to be successful in the program,” stated Pagan.
This preliminary cohort, in addition to different incoming college students, will instantly start apprenticeships with native early youngster care suppliers this fall, whereas additionally taking early childhood education courses at Hartnell, in accordance to a press launch saying this system this week. Grant funds can pay for scholar providers corresponding to counseling and tutoring, administrative help, employer incentives and technical help from supporting businesses.
Participation provides college students the prospect to earn a complete of three permits for early childhood education — assistant trainer, affiliate trainer and trainer — and 41 school credit, which is about two-thirds of the best way towards an affiliate diploma at Hartnell, the school acknowledged.
“They’ll work for 1,000 hours in the first year and 1,000 hours in the second year at the same time they are taking classes,” stated Pagan. “They will study part-time and work part-time, and they’ll get paid for those hours.”
With the grant in hand, Hartnell is now placing collectively a Joint Apprenticeship Committee of early-childhood employers and educators together with community-based organizations who will assist develop wage requirements and skill-set aims, in addition to search formal state approval for the apprenticeship plan. Members of the committee will embrace the Monterey County Office of Education — which contributed $15,000 to the apprenticeship effort — United Way Monterey County, child-development advocacy organizations like Bright Beginnings and First 5 Monterey County, Early Development Services in Salinas, and the Hartnell College Foundation.
Sonia Jaramilla, program director for the MCOE Early Learning Program who has been concerned with planning for the grant-funded initiative from the beginning, expressed her gratitude for early childhood pathways that can quickly be made out there to college students. In a press launch, Jaramillo stated she is aware of how troublesome it’s to rent certified pre-kindergarten lecturers, significantly in the face of monetary constraints and language boundaries.
“They’re willing and able to do it, but without the qualifications in place, it’s very difficult for them to enter into any of these positions,” she continued. But by incomes cash as an apprentice whereas buying the mandatory abilities and credentials, mother and father can say, “ ‘I can get a little bit of a paycheck. I don’t have to starve because I’m going to school.’ This grant is an amazing opportunity for our families.”
Prospective college students in studying extra concerning the apprenticeship program can contact Salinas Valley Adult Education program assistant Christian Regaldo at (831) 386-105 or [email protected]. No prior expertise in childhood education is required. Participants should be certified to work in the United States, although program organizers have assured they’re exploring methods to prolong the identical alternatives to people who lack immigration paperwork. More data is accessible at https://svaec.org/ecepathway/.
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