Grant title: DCCCD Child Care Quality Initiative
Funding: $987,302 from Workforce Solutions for Dallas County ($587,738 for Eastfield College; $318,335 for Brookhaven College; $81,229 for Cedar Valley College)
Source of funding: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Covers: Credit and noncredit courses, plus materials, for students who are child care providers in Dallas County child care facilities
Credit courses: Taught by Eastfield and Brookhaven colleges
Continuing education courses: Taught by Brookhaven, Eastfield and Cedar Valley colleges
Class locations: Eastfield, Brookhaven and Cedar Valley campuses, as well as off-campus locations such as area child care centers
Number of students to date: Fall 2009 — 57 credit students; spring 2009 — 312 credit and continuing education students, with more expected to enroll in courses that start later in the semester (and 35 already are registered for the April 2010 conference)
Goals: To provide a comprehensive child care training initiative to enhance the qualifications and skills of child care providers throughout Dallas County; to offer courses and programs in child care training that meet national accreditation standards set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children; and to meet staff qualification requirements outlined by NAEYC, plus specific topics identified in the Workforce Solutions ARRA Child Care Enhancement plan
Examples of training programs/courses: CDA credential training (skills achievement award); director training; special child skills achievement award; nutrition, health and safety; child abuse detection and prevention; associate degree program; continuing education; infant toddler training; and infant toddler model classrooms
Identification/recruitment of students: Application materials are mailed to child care providers in Dallas County using labels provided by Child Care Licensing; materials are also sent by mail through other community groups such as the ChildCareGroup. Open houses were held last fall at all three colleges during which members of the child care community received information about the project. Students are enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Expertise: Together, Eastfield and Brookhaven colleges exclusively provide child development credit courses for the Dallas County area; together, they also offer the largest programs to train child care staff in north Texas, enrolling a combined number of more than 2,000 students. Cedar Valley College began offering its child care workforce development training program more than 20 years ago.