Greenfield Community College is proud to announce the launch of the Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship for Learning, Innovation, Voice & Empowerment (ECE ALIVE), a pilot Learn-and-Earn program aimed at addressing the childcare staffing shortage in the Pioneer Valley while diversifying and strengthening the early education workforce.<\/p>\n
Developed by GCC\u2019s Workforce Development division in collaboration with Early Childhood Education faculty and five local childcare providers, the program offers free, paid, on-the-job training paired with college coursework that leads to teacher certification without student debt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a game-changer for our region,\u201d said GCC Dean of Workforce Development Alex Carley. \u201cWe\u2019re helping job seekers launch meaningful careers in early education while solving a critical workforce challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program begins with four weeks of professional readiness training, including digital literacy, classroom readiness, and durable skills training, followed by 15 weeks of hybrid learning and hands-on experience in an early childcare setting. Apprentices will be placed in childcare centers for paid on-the-job training supported by both college faculty and workplace mentors. Training and education costs are fully covered. The consortium of employer partners is likely to grow in the years ahead.<\/p>\n
Participating apprentices can also earn college credit through a Credit for Prior Learning process. The program\u2019s curriculum aligns with both state and national teaching standards.<\/p>\n
Funded by a three-year grant from the Commonwealth Corporation, the first cohort launches in January 2026, with two more cohorts beginning each fall through 2027. GCC aims to expand the model regionally.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur model is unique, including direct support to make connections between GCC courses and educator practice in the field. This is a crucial foundation for building a professional career in early education,\u201d GCC Education Department Chair Peggy Martalock.\u00a0 Applications are open now. For more information, contact the ECE ALIVE Coordinator at GCC Workforce Development at train@gcc.mass.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greenfield Community College is proud to announce the launch of the Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship for Learning, Innovation, Voice & Empowerment (ECE ALIVE), a pilot Learn-and-Earn program aimed at addressing the childcare staffing shortage in the Pioneer Valley while diversifying and strengthening the early education workforce. Developed by GCC\u2019s Workforce Development division in collaboration with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4307,"featured_media":4495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-4494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-train"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4496,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4494\/revisions\/4496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}