(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) awarded $622,000 to Joint Initiatives’ (JI) Advancing Early Childhood Educators Program.

The program is a partnership between JI and Pikes Peak State College aimed at attracting, educating, and retaining early childhood teachers while addressing the shortage in the workforce contributing to the area’s childcare crisis.

JI provides coaching and business modeling to El Paso County’s 30 state-licensed centers and homes offering child care and preschool for infants through 5-year-olds, 75% of which report shortages of teacher-qualified staff.

“Based on the data, we estimate that Colorado Springs needs to create at least 16,000 new child care spots to meet the growing child care needs of families with children five and under,” said SherryLynn Boyles, JI President and CEO.

The Advancing Educators Program aims to make it easier for potential students to enroll in Pikes Peak State College’s flexible-track early childhood teacher and teacher assistant training courses, which are already provided tuition-free.

“We know that many would-be students don’t pursue advanced certification due to a number of barriers,” Boyles added. “Students not only need affordable classes, but they often need help with transportation, childcare for their own children, and with the costs of books and supplies. Most of the OEDIT grant funding goes to help students with these kinds of expenses.”

The grant also offers a stipend to students upon completion of coursework, along with career navigation to guide them through the courses, and subsequently assists graduating students with job placement.

According to JI, El Paso County has Colorado’s largest population of children ages 0-5, and the total available childcare spots provide only enough spaces for 37.4 % of this population. More families than ever are seeking childcare, so opportunities for childcare professionals continue to grow.

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