Growing the Workforce: A Head Start Apprenticeship Model
Monshari Chandler: My name is Monshari Chandler, and I'm the Head Start, Early Head Start director for Parents in Community Action. We're located in Hennepin County in Minnesota, providing services to 2,600 children and their families, prenatal to 5, throughout 14 centers, which includes one child care partnership.
For the last 40 years, PICA has practiced a grow-your-own approach. We've used that approach to fill essential positions in our program. And with that approach, we've been able to recruit, train, and hire many teachers, drivers, nutrition staff, and records clerks receptionists to fill our essential positions throughout the years.
As a byproduct of our grow-your-own approach, our staff and our children – our staff are reflective of the children and families that we serve – culturally, racially, and linguistically. PICA has developed five parent training programs with tracks that include child development and Early Head Start and Head Start, commercial kitchen, clerical, and transportation. All of these are essential positions in critical demand in our community as well as specifically in PICA.
Each training track includes 96 hours of hands-on experience working under the supervision of an experienced or credentialed qualified staff who models the skills needed to work in those positions, and they direct learning. Trainees learn basic skills in the component area that they're working in, and parents receive an evaluation at the end of their training track.
In addition to receiving an evaluation on how well they did or some suggestions on skills that they need to continue to work on, parents receive a $300 stipend, which is important for our families who are oftentimes on fixed incomes or with limited resources. Parents can complete all or one or two, however many tracks they are interested in in our parent training programs.
And parents, that as a result are interested in pursuing a career in teaching, they are able to apply for an internship in child development. And that internship includes 700 additional hours in a classroom. More of a hands-on experience with some in-depth training and learning opportunities for them. Those parent interns also complete or they pursue a CDA in our in-house CDA training program. And at the end of that 700 hours, whether they have obtained that CDA or they are well on the way to obtaining that CDA, we invite parents to apply for permanent positions in our Head Start program.
Another byproduct that comes from our grow-your-own approach is longevity. What we've found is that the staff who have been with Head Start a number of years – and I'm speaking 20 plus years – but those staff began as parents. Those parents came in the door looking for opportunities, looking for a seat at the table, and looking for development and growth. And they have continued to grow and been appreciative of that opportunity and have continued to climb the career lattice and be a part of our PICA Head Start community for a number of years. We've found that our longest tenured staff are people who began as parents.
The Parents in Community Action (PICA) program shares how they operate a training program that helps Head Start parents learn new skills, gain hands-on work experience, and gives a pathway to permanent employment in the Head Start program.
