Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County for the Child Care Resource Connection has launched Program Tours with Mentor Teachers with more than $41,000 from a one-time Impact Grant awarded last year in honor of the Women’s Legacy Fund’s 10th anniversary.
The grant’s goal was to expand training offered to licensed childcare providers, thereby improving quality of care and having an exponential benefit to families and communities. And this program does just that.
The California Early Childhood Mentor Program uses the word “mentor teacher” to describe an experienced early childhood education teacher of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, or school age children, who has applied and been selected by his or her local Mentor Program. The mentor teacher accepts student teachers into their classroom for a unique, one-on-one learning relationship in the practicalities of working with children.
The local mentor teacher program through Cuesta College currently has 12 mentor teachers throughout the county, and on April 20, 2013, Program Tours with Mentor Teachers will be caravanning throughout San Luis Obispo County. One tour will be leaving from the North County while the other tour will be starting from the Southern Region of the County. These tours with Mentor Teachers are meant to help local childcare providers discover ideas that can be implemented in their child care business.
The Impact Grant stemmed from the Women’s Legacy Fund Report “What Do Women Need? – A 2010 Report on SLO County Women and Girls,” which identified adequate, affordable childcare as one of the top five issues for local women.
For more information about the Women’s Legacy Fund, contact the SLOCCF at (805) 543-2323 or visit sloccfwlf.org.