Child Care Apprenticeship Opens for First Time

The Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship is welcoming the first cohort of the program to start working and learning and increasing child care capacity in the Southwest Oregon region. The applications for the winter term are already open. The Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship is the first of its kind in Oregon. It is grant funded which allows students in their first year to have the educational component of the program paid for. In the past year, the largest child care provider in Roseburg closed its doors and another smaller provider opened. A 2019 study by Oregon State University found that, statewide, there are eight infant and toddlers for every childcare slot, and three preschool-aged children for every slot in that age range. “By having the educational component paid for, it gives people the opportunity to enroll in school that might not be able to otherwise,” said Laura Klivans, Apprenticeship Program Support. “The apprenticeship also gets people back in the workforce. This in turn can potentially increase the capacity within childcare providers in Coos, Curry, and Douglas counties. Our goal is to decrease unemployment, poverty, and childcare shortages while helping children be better prepared for kindergarten.” The Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship was created by Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board and its partners, South Coast Regional Early Learning Hub, Southwestern Oregon Community College, Umpqua Community College, South Coast Head Start, and United Community Action Network Head Start. Additional funding to implement this model was provided by AllCare Health Resiliency Fund and Advanced Health. “Apprentices will gain valuable work experience and will be on their way to earning their Associates in Applied Sciences once they have completed the program,” Klivans said. “By becoming Early Childhood Educators, the apprentices will play a vital role in helping their community grow, and in shaping the lives of young children.” A child care desert is defined as an area where there is only one child care slot for every three children who need care, child care deserts exist in all 36 of Oregon’s counties according to an article from The Ford Family Foundation. Without reliable child care, employees cannot return to work. The problem is especially acute in rural areas. “Rural communities tend to have less child care available,” Megan Pratt told Ford Family. She is the coordinator of the Oregon Child Care Research Partnership, which conducts research related to child care policy at the local and state levels. “Even beyond that, rural areas have a hard time creating and maintaining child care options and are more likely to use home-based and family, friend, and neighbor care. For example, grandparents often fill the gap.” The program currently has three apprentices taking classes from Umpqua Community College or Southwestern Oregon Community College and is aiming to reach underserved groups including women, minorities, veterans, and people with disabilities. The program is three years of learning and working with a training partner. “This will allow them to put into place what they have learned in the classroom,” Klivans said. “Additionally, they will have meaningful employment to support themselves and their families with opportunities for pay increases as they progress through the apprenticeship.” For more information, visit www.sowib.org/apprenticeships-ece