Pursue a Career in Early Childhood

Child care is essential. That is both the rallying cry of child care advocates as well as the reality many Bay Area families have grappled with throughout the pandemic. While many K12 students have recently returning to in person learning, families with young children or children needing care out of school hours have not been as lucky. A severe shortage of early learning educators has long plagued the region with COVID19 exacerbating workforce challenges facing the child care sector. In response, Community Equity Collaborative, a local nonprofit, partners with other community organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to bring new educators into the field and provide wrap-around support.

At the moment, the Teacher Pipeline Project is offered at Skyline College in San Mateo County and Foothill College in Santa Clara County. Students can earn either their Assistant or Associate or Teacher Permit during this one year program which utilizes a cohort-based model. In addition to these are credit-bearing courses, resources are offered to support and empower students, particularly women of color, who makeup a large percentage of the workforce and often face barriers in their career development. This year, Community Equity Collaborative will continue its partnership with Good2Know Network in offering webinars designed for Bay Area early learning educators and Teacher Pipeline Project students. Philanthropic support from Silicon Valley Community Foundation will also make it possible for students in the program to access additional financial assistance.

Courses during the 2021-2022 school-year programs will be online, with a focus on flexible learning opportunities and virtual support. The North County Cohort launched in August but it is not too late to join the South County Cohort! Classes at Foothill College start on September 20th so there is still time to enroll at the college and register for the Principles and Practices of Teaching Young Children, the first course offered during the Fall Term.

Decades of research demonstrate that high quality child care is essential to growing healthy families and supporting strong communities. According to Dayna Chung, Executive Director at Community Equity Collaborative, "Now is a great time to launch a career in early childhood education. We believe awareness of the importance of child care has increased over the last 18 months and we are hopeful that future support for early childhood educators will continue to grow." For more information, visit the Community Equity Collaborative website or contact the Child Development Chair at Foothill College, Nicole Kerbey (kerbeynicole@foothill.edu).