COLORADO SPRINGS — A local non-profit is trying to address an early childhood educator shortage. The organization is getting a big boost from the state to partner with Pikes Peak State College.
The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) awarded $622,000 to Joint Initiatives For Youth And Families. The money is going to an early childhood educators program. Joint Initiative is partnering with Pikes Peak State College to expand the advancing early childhood educators program.
Matt Radcliffe is the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications for Pike Peak State College. He said the goal is to bridge the gap between a shortage of childcare workers and families needing childcare.
“The idea is to get more people interested in becoming early childcare educators,” Radcliffe said.
He said childcare is difficult to find.
Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families and Pikes Peak State College are trying to come up with a solution to the shortage of early childcare workers in the Pikes Peak region.
“We want to take the burden off of families to have to really search and find and scrape and enter waiting lists and define people to educate their children,” Radcliffe said. “The early childhood education program in Pikes Peak takes a student from knowing nothing about how to be an early childhood educator through a tiered system at the doing our associates program.”
Students gain credentials to become an early childcare teacher or teacher assistant.
“We also offer different types of certificates there or things like a director certificate or infant certificate,” Radcliffe said.
He said the courses are tuition-free and students will get paid when they complete their classes.
“It also provides stipends for living to increase the likelihood that people will join an early childhood education program, finish it, and start working in the industry,” Radcliffe said.
Radcliffe said they hope this will be a solution to the workforce shortage.
“So as we create more educators we will have more facilities and more opportunities to find places for daycare,” Radcliffe said.
According to Radcliffe, over the next three years, they hope to train 180 students to be early childcare educators.
Pikes Peak State College is currently open for summer and fall enrollment.
Interested students can fill out the application online or visit their website to learn more about the early childhood education program.
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