Jointly developed by Chabot College and the Center for the Child Care Workforce, formerly the Child Care Employee Project, the California Early Childhood Mentor Program started as a pilot project at Chabot College in 1988 with initial funding from United Way of the Bay Area and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
In 1991, eight private foundations contributed a total of $269,614 to expand the program to nine additional community colleges.
Those foundations were:
- The American Express Philanthropic Program
- ARCO Foundation
- The Center for Career Development in Early Care and Education at Wheelock College
- Clorox Company Foundation
- Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- San Francisco Foundation
- The Morris Stulsaft Foundation
In 1992, Chabot College contracted with the California Department of Education for $669,000 from the Federal Child Care and Development Block Grant for support of the existing colleges and expansion to an additional eight community colleges. Steady growth in the number of colleges in the Program has resulted in today’s total of 100+ community colleges.