Blue Mountain Community College (BMCC) has announced that it has been awarded a total of $50,000 from the Oregon Community Foundation and its donors to support the expansion of BMCC’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) Kickstart Program.
The ECE Kickstart program is a three-day event to promote and recruit individuals into the field of Early Childhood Education in an effort to increase childcare availability in rural Oregon. The event is free to participants and completing the three-day program will earn them three free credits to BMCC.
“According to the Administration for Children & Families, early childcare is down more than 10 percent of pre-pandemic levels,” says Tammy Short, director of Instructional Operations. “A strong, stable, highly qualified Early Childhood Workforce is essential to child learning and development.”
Three separate funds of the Oregon Community Foundation contributed toward the $50,000 awarded to BMCC, including the Betty Gray Endowment, Latino Partnership Program, and the Byron and Cynthia Grant through the WRG Foundation Fund.
