| Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash
HARTFORD, CT – Connecticut has announced a new Registered Apprenticeship Program to encourage jobseekers to enter careers in home-based child care and fill high-demand jobs in this field during a press conference held at Green World Family Child Care, a CSEA SEIU Local 2001 Care 4 Kids provider located in Hartford.
The first of its kind in Connecticut, the program is a partnership among the Office of Early Childhood (OEC), Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL), and SEIU Local 2001. The governor’s office said it was created to partner with families and communities to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate care for their children, improving the quality of early care and education by offering coursework in child development and valuing the vital work that childcare providers perform within their communities.
“Our nation is experiencing a child care crisis – one where spots are scarce and costs are increasingly climbing,” Governor Ned Lamont said. “Connecticut is not immune, and that is why we are forming this registered apprenticeship program. Affordable child care shouldn’t be a privilege or a perk.”
“Expanding the workforce in this field means increasing access to childcare for all workers and helping parents pursue meaningful and successful employment,” the governor added, saying, “this program will ramp up the capacity and quality of home-based child care with a new class of expert instructors, who will get the credentials and incentives to stay committed to this profession for a lifetime.”
According to officials, registered apprentices earn while they learn. The federally backed workforce training program requires a minimum of 2,000 hours working on the job and hundreds of hours of classroom learning. Data show that around 6,500 registered apprentices work with 1,700 employers across nearly every sector of Connecticut’s economy.
Upon completing the Family Child Care Registered Apprenticeship Program, family child care providers will have credentials for the Child Development Associate and National Association for Family Child Care. These credentials raise the wages for providers, improve future earning power, and lift the quality of home-based early childhood education programs.
“With thousands of hours of training and education, registered apprenticeships are the gold standard in workforce development and a great fit for childcare providers and their staff,” Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo said. “Childcare gives parents the ability to participate in the workforce and fills a critical role in the economy.”
SEIU represents 25,000 active and retired public service workers across Connecticut, including about 4,000 Care 4 Kids Providers.
President of SEIU Local 2001, Travis Woodward, said Connecticut’s fragile childcare infrastructure was further destabilized during the pandemic. Despite how essential childcare is to our economy, providers and parents struggle to find affordable and accessible childcare.
“SEIU is on the forefront the fight for better wages, benefits, and professional development tools to address low wages and high healthcare costs and develop a workforce pipeline,” he said. “This program represents just one piece of the puzzle that Connecticut needs to address the childcare crisis.”
Last month, CTDOL reported that center-based childcare payrolls reached employment highs of 15,700 workers employed in the state – higher than pre-pandemic levels. Data from the Office of Early Childhood identifies 1,822 home-based family care centers in Connecticut. There is a high demand for workers in center-based and home-based childcare facilities.
Due to the success of the registered apprenticeship model, OEC is also piloting workforce approaches that will lead to registered apprenticeships for childcare centers.
–With Jay Domingo/PDM
