|
The Child Care Partnership Project Early Childhood Professional Development Project |
|
|
Description The Early Childhood Professional Development Project (ECPDP) works to promote quality child care for children from birth to eight years old in the tri-county area, through training providers who care for young children. The Project operates in Chemung, Schuyler, and Steuben counties, which are located in rural western New York State. Partners The Early Childhood Professional Development Project is led by a task force of community members and local business members interested in child care. The partners involved in the task force and the Early Childhood Professional Development Project include:
The project has also received information and advice from the New York State Education Department, the New York State Early Childhood Development Initiative, various four-year colleges, and early childhood centers. History and Development Corning Incorporated, a major employer in Chemung, Schuyler, and Steuben counties, wanted to diversify its workforce and improve employee retention. The company found that providing supportive, affordable, high-quality child care was an important way to help achieve these goals. In 1988, Corning brought local business leaders, child care providers, and others interested in child care to the table, and the Tri-County Task Force on Child Care was the result. The Task Force undertook a variety of activities to help improve child care for the residents of the region. The focus of the original partnership was not only supporting child care provider training, but also creating before- and after-school care options, developing legislation and advocacy around child care, and building a system for emergency child care. As time went on, the Task Force became increasingly focused on training child care workers. In 1996, the Woodcock Foundation, a funder of the Task Force, became interested in the issue of provider training and education to encourage the professional development of providers. In addition, Woodcock wanted to raise parental awareness of the important relationship between the education of providers and the quality of child care. This led to the formation of the Early Childhood Professional Development Project, which focuses on improving and supporting the training of child care providers and raising retention rates. Current Activities The Early Childhood Professional Development Project has identified gaps in service provision and is working on training and professional development to remedy those gaps. The program uses several methods, including:
The project also has initiated collaborations among area organizations and is working on building public awareness in the community of the need for and benefit of educating child care workers. Resources Since its inception, the ECPDP has received the majority of its funding from the Woodcock Foundation, which has committed approximately $200,000 annually to the partnership. Corning Inc., whose staff initiated the partnership, contributes $40,000 to $50,000 per year. Additional support comes through the Corning Children's Center and through a foundation of the same name that is separate from the corporation. In addition to monetary support, the project receives support from the following groups:
The Corning Children's Center, a child care center established by Corning Inc., oversees the collection and distribution of funds and coordinates activities of the partnership. Results The program has seen some important successes. Some changes are hard to measure in numbers, such as a child care provider’s new-found appreciation and access to information, and a community’s growing awareness of the importance of quality care. However, certain measures indicate that the Project's efforts to educate providers, parents, and the community are paying off. For example, the project developed an accreditation program through Corning Community College. About 150 people have gone through the program and have received accreditation as child care workers. Also, since 1990, the partnership has seen a variety of promising trends in response to its efforts. For example, in 1997, 90 percent of providers in the area attended some training, a 10-percent increase from 1990. Sustaining and Replicating The project is currently looking at ways to develop its funding base beyond the Woodcock Foundation. Woodcock has made a commitment to helping the partnership look for new sources of funding from the state, other local charitable organizations, and local businesses. The foundation will also help the ECPDP find new partners to reach its goals. While the partnership is not modeled on any particular program, the T.E.A.C.H. model is being used to structure education, training, and compensation for providers. Lessons Learned Strong leadership and a manageable agenda are essential. Keeping a manageable agenda has been a challenge for the Project, since everyone on the Task Force came to the table with their own agenda. In light of this, the Project has learned how important strong leadership is to encourage cooperation. For continued success, partners need strong leadership with a clear vision of what the Project can achieve. Stay focused on clear set of goals. If they were to begin again, the members of the Task Force would not have attempted to be so diverse in their activities. Attempting to satisfy so many different constituencies made success difficult at first. This issue was an important factor in narrowing the scope of the partnership from the broad goals of the Task Force to the more focused goals of the ECPDP. Contact Information Thomas E. Blumer |
||
|
||
