Teacher Pipeline Project Launch in Menlo Park & Redwood City

Local nonprofit Community Equity Collaborative will host a launch event tomorrow evening, September 11th, in Redwood City to welcome participants and program partners to the kick-off of its 2019-2020 Teacher Pipeline Project with Foothill College. This innovative and collaborative initiative bundles Early Childhood Education college courses with meals, child care, individual coaching and loaner laptops into one program that is available to participants at no cost through partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, the Redwood City School District, the Menlo Park City School District, and Sparkpoint (a program of United Way).

Within the next five years, San Mateo County’s early learning classrooms will fall short by 2,500 teachers. “The Teacher Pipeline Program has the potential to become a model for how we can successfully bring new educators into the workforce to address the teacher shortage, expand our capacity to serve more children and professionalize the field,” according to Peggy Pizzo, Early Childhood Education expert and the Director of Stanford’s Early Learning Project. “The benefits of such collaborative efforts go beyond its participants or partners as many are watching and hoping for archetypes that can be replicated and scaled.” According to one Pipeline student, the bundling of classes with child care and meals was a winning recipe for her participation. “For a single mother, the fact [that] I can go to school and have my child at the school daycare is phenomenal.” Another student valued the program’s connections to high-quality early learning centers with long-term mentorship and career advancement support. “I’ve found the program to be an excellent gateway for employment opportunities.”

The event will be held at 6:00 PM at the Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse (1109 Hilton St, Redwood City, CA 94063). For more information, visit the CEC website.