Afterschool Workforce Development: For Community Colleges

For Community Colleges

Community colleges are the right place to begin addressing the need for trained workers in afterschool programs. Because these post-secondary institutions already educate more child development workers, recreation specialists - and Californians, generally! - than anyone else, they are a natural and essential resource in strengthening and developing the afterschool workforce.

CalSAC's afterschool workforce development initiatives, based on the PATHWAYS model (Partnering to Advance Training and Hiring Workers in Afterschool Youth Services), build partnerships between community colleges, afterschool employers, and local workforce investment boards. These partnerships succeed not only in addressing a critical shortage of trained afterschool workers; they also help introduce new investments by California's workforce system into the community colleges - creating a truly winning formula for all involved.

In these initiatives, community colleges can receive funding from local workforce investment boards (WIBs) or other sources to develop a semester-long (12-unit) bridge program for potential afterschool workers. Following the bridge program, participating students enroll full time in community college and receive assistance from WIBS to secure financial aid. Simultaneously, they begin working part-time in an afterschool program for the duration of their studies.

To learn how your community college can join CalSAC's afterschool workforce development initiatives, contact us at (510) 444-4622 or info@calsac.org.

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