Mission
To strengthen and sustain the child care and development workforce by recruiting, engaging and elevating a broad representation of certified mentors who are reflective of the communities they serve. Implement peer to peer, relationship based, mentoring for students, teachers and administrators leading to the direct impact of the quality of care and education children and families receive.
Vision
Achieve systems of change reflecting a respected, valued, and broadly diverse early childhood development workforce who support and advocate through the perspective of child care and development educators, children and families.
High quality child care starts with high quality Administrative Professionals. The talented and dedicated Coordinators, Directors and Teachers at child care programs are the conduit to ensuring the success of our youngest learners. Children attending quality child care programs have greater brain and social emotional development, language abilities and success in not only school, but in life.
The California Early Childhood Mentor Program (CECMP), funded by the California Department of Social Service (CDSS), supports Mentors throughout California in providing leadership and guidance to students entering the Early Childhood Education (ECE) field, and current child care Directors and Teachers. Partnering with nearly 100 Community Colleges – and growing – the Mentor Program supports a diverse workforce of family child care programs, private child care centers, State Preschools and Head Start programs.
The California Early Childhood Mentor Program focuses on:
Outreach
To outreach to seek a broad representation of quality child care and development Selection Committee Members, Mentors, Director Mentors, and Coordinators who are reflective of the communities they serve.
Placements
To provide quality community placements for Community College, University, Regional Occupation Program students and workforce of child care and development throughout their education and career journey with certified Mentors.
Mentorship
To provide any administrator in the child care and development workforce seeking mentorship placement with a certified Director Mentor.
Workforce
To build workforce capacity through reflective, interactive, in-depth study of leadership and mentoring skills; providing relevant, inclusive, culturally responsive, and equity driven professional development through individual mentoring and/or Communities of Practice (CoP).
Leadership
To encourage leadership opportunities in mentoring, training, facilitating, advocacy, and community collaboration.
Interested in becoming a Director Mentor or Mentor Teacher? Find a Coordinator near you by clicking on, OUR COLLEGES, tab at the top to learn the next steps in joining our Mentor community!
In need of additional Early Childhood Education Courses to be eligible? Click below to find an online course!
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