The early learning field is experiencing a workforce crisis. The National Head Start Association reported in February 2023 that 20% of Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms were currently closed — and of those closed, 81% cited staff vacancies as the primary reason.
The impact is both national and hyperlocal: A Start Strong PA study conducted in February 2023 reported that 89% of responding programs in York County indicated they had a staffing shortage.
At Community Progress Council, the benefit of tuition reimbursement has long presented a variety of paths to support those with limited experience, education, or both to continue building skill sets and increasing education. As the workforce crisis deepened after COVID-19, leadership recognized the need to build a workforce pipeline from the ground up, support economic mobility and self-sufficiency in the Early Learning workforce, and to remove barriers to increased earnings for those involved.
Rooted in our mission
As a community action agency rooted in its mission to improve self-sufficiency, the Teacher Training Program allows CPC the opportunity to provide meaningful employment, workforce development and ongoing training to those with limited experience or education in the early learning field. Building a team of well-trained, experienced early learning educators will impact the community at large and foster sustainability in the ECE workforce for York County.
With initial funding support from PNC Grow Up Great, CPC began an Introductory Path program in the 2022-2023 school year to support inexperienced individuals with a passion for supporting children. Participants in the program receive paid time to complete their child development associate credential, paid time in the classroom to gain real-world, hands-on experience and training, and stipends to encourage progress in the program.
In time, Community Progress Council desired to include additional training opportunities, including “Getting Ahead in the Workplace” and enrollment in CPC’s Self-Sufficiency Program, to address workforce development in an integrated and comprehensive manner.
“We also saw opportunities to encourage mentorship between aides and teachers, and connect aides with in-person CDA instruction,” says Natalie Dragan, Assistant Education Manager, who has overseen the teacher aide program development, recruitment, and implementation.
ECHO support
Support from Every Child Has Opportunities, or ECHO, has enabled Community Progress Council to realize these opportunities for growth — and to serve as a model to establish an ECE apprenticeship program elsewhere in the County.
An early childhood education initiative in York County led by Community Connections for Children and the York County Economic Alliance, ECHO exists to increase the number of children — particularly low-income children — who are served in high-quality ECE programs in York County.
Impact for York County
The investment is key: Research shows that for every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood education, society gains up to $7.30 in economic returns over the long term. ECHO is a catalyst for innovation and collaboration and will provide a blueprint for addressing the issues that limit opportunities for children, families, and ECE educators.
With support from ECHO, Community Progress Council is already recruiting for the 2024-25 program year, with several dozen applicants and 10 confirmed participants as of mid-June. Increased connections with local high schools and continued support from ECHO will only continue to advance the program.
Ivy Fleming is one of our teacher aides, having joined Team CPC as the first in her family to pursue a college degree. Simultaneously working and studying, Ivy gained hands-on learning experience through paid time in the classroom, and paid time to complete her studies. Having completed her CDA through the teacher aide program in summer of 2023, Ivy was hired as an assistant teacher with CPC for the 2023-24 school year.
“Stipends for mentor teachers and mentees encourages support as teachers continue their professional development — and acknowledges the deep expertise and experience that advanced teachers can bring to newer educators,” says Natalie.
The power of mentorship
As a coaching organization, Community Progress Council was also excited to leverage ECHO support to offer a six-week “Coach Approach” training for 19 members of our early childhood education leadership team, Education Coordinators, and mentor teachers. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Education Coordinator Madeline Kaiser reflected on her role as a leader and partner with the teachers she manages and her fellow coordinators.
“The Coach Approach training showed me that we need to be curious to venture out into the unknown,” Madeline says. “It is through this venture that we build an environment that is supportive where our team members feel safe, seen and heard. We need to provide patience, persistence and grit, not to fix our team members’ problems, but to give our team members space to solve their own problems. It’s this that helps empower them to become more successful in the classroom and develop their professional and personal growth.”
She continued, “We can only help create change by helping our team members understand that we are partners.”
As a community action agency, Community Progress Council serves low- and moderate-income families through a number of integrated programs. Reliable, affordable child care is oftentimes the number-one barrier for a caregiver looking to return to work, and so many of the challenges that the early learning field is seeing in recruitment are bleeding into other sectors of the workforce. With this lens, it’s easy to see how early childhood education impacts multiple generations, the current adult workforce, and the future workforce.
With partners like ECHO and others dedicated to addressing challenges in the early learning field, we are positively impacting the current and future economy of York County.