"Education Stars" Program Increasing Education Level of Child Care Professionals In Union County

A collaborative effort among the Union County Partnership for Children, South Piedmont Community College, (SPCC) and Child Care Resources Inc. of Union County is enabling child care directors, teachers and other child care professionals to increase their educational level.

The "Education Stars" program (which includes tuition, books and fees) is funded with Smart Start dollars, through a contract with SPCC. It is a series of college-credit courses that is flexible and designed to provide educational curriculum activities at three levels - certificate, diploma and associate degree.

The Early Childhood Education curriculum, built around the standard North Carolina community college curriculum, is designed to allow students to climb a career ladder. The certificate and diploma options may be applied toward an associate degree.
SPCC offers an Associate in Applied Science-Early Childhood Education as well as an Associate in Applied Science-Early Childhood Education -Teacher's Associate degree.

The classes, which started in Spring Semester of 2002 and continued through the summer into Fall Semester 2002, have been offered to 124 childcare professionals to date. They are taught by Child Care Resources and SPCC staff at times that are flexible enough to meet the child care providers' schedules (weekends and evenings.) These flexible times are designed to encourage participation in the program and, in turn, become involved in other child care activities funded by the Partnership.

Many of the child care providers who are now taking the Education Stars classes are teachers who had never attempted college credit coursework. They are now taking Education Stars classes as well as signing up and paying for SPCC classes. As these child care professionals attain higher levels of education, it is the goal of the program that compensation will reflect the achievement.

We salute Tonya Clark on the outstanding work that she is doing in the WIA Youth Program in Stanly County. Tonya comes to us as the oldest of a single parent family of four. She wanted to make positive changes in her life after quitting high school. She learned about the Work Prep Program from her mother who had picked up a pamphlet at the local post office.

The Work Prep Program in Stanly County continues to motivate youth in the schools and workforce. We are very proud of the work that Tonya Clark is doing in one of our local agencies.

Tonya is a seventeen-year-old youth that entered the Work Prep Program for out of school youth in October 200l. She wanted to obtain her GED certificate. She was directed by Mrs. Daisy Washington to enter Stanly Community College in the Literacy Program. Tonya entered the program in October 2001 and obtained her GED certificate in December 2001.

Tonya is presently working a 25-hour work week at Kiddie Kare II, which is a daycare center in Albemarle, NC. She enjoys working with children, and has set a goal to obtain an Early Childhood degree from Stanly Community College.

We are very proud of Tonya, and wish her luck in her future endeavors.

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The Centralina Workforce Development Board sent a team of community partners to the Southeast Region 3 Youth Investment Summit. The US Department of Labor, National Center on Secondary Education and Transition and School and Main Institute developed and provided facilitation for the summit.

The Centralina team spent three days (October 15-17, 2002) in Charlotte working hard developing a Comprehensive Youth Investment Strategy to encompass all seven counties in the Centralina region. The group, which included individuals from local agencies providing youth services, focused on creating partnerships of workforce preparation, youth development, educational reform and economic development.

The team will follow up by meeting again after presenting the strategy to the Centralina Workforce Development Board Youth Council on Thursday, November 21,2002.

The Centralina Team
Left to Right:(Back Row) Devane Harvey, Latonia Wright, Paula Holmes, Bryan Duncan, Emily Behm, Donna Washington, ThelmaGibson
(Front Row) Linda Smith, Stephanie Boger, Audrie-Daniels Murphy,
Facilitator: Suzanne Hershey, and Skye Lewis
Not Pictured: Tina Tate

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Upcoming Events:

• Centralina Workforce Development Board Meeting Tuesday, November 12, 2002 4:30 PM
  Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce Kannapolis
  
  
• Youth Council Meeting
  Thursday, November 21, 2002 9:30 AM
  Mitchell Community College, Mooresville Campus
  
  
• NCSTARS Training for Centralina Region Thursday, November 14, 2002 1PM - 4PM
  South Piedmont Community College, Continuing Education Center Monroe

Visit our website at www.centralinaworks.com to learn more about the Centralina WDB
To send a comment about our E-Newsletter, click here.