What's Happening - Seven Hills Foundation

Family Services of Central Massachusetts Receives $100K Grant from United Way of Central MA

Written by Seven Hills Foundation | Feb 24, 2022 8:29:02 PM

Family Services of Central Massachusetts, Inc. Center for Child Care Careers is grateful to have received a $100,000 McKenzie Scott Community Challenge grant from the United Way of Central Massachusetts to replicate its successful Center-Based Child Development Apprenticeship program with Family Childcare educators. Family childcare educators support Worcester’s Workforce by providing neighborhood-based, culturally relevant care. For newly licensed educators, finding bilingual, relevant training available outside of work hours is difficult and can be expensive. As essential service providers during the Covid-19 pandemic, family childcare educators were impacted by additional expenses for PPE and cleaning supplies, mandated business closures, illness, and decreasing enrollment. These factors along with a lack of mentoring and support are deterring potential educators nationally and locally from entering this essential field at a highly critical time in America. This opportunity will change that course so that new, family childcare educators will flourish in this economically vital field. The new Family Childcare Educators apprenticeship program will train 15 new educators to enter the field in Worcester, and once these educators become certified 50 local families will have an adult in the workforce and 70 new family childcare slots will be available to families who need them most.