Congratulations to the Buncombe County Partnership for Children and their partners across four western NC counties for receiving an NCWorks Local Innovation Fund grant. The $400,000 grant helps expand the WNC Early Childhood Workforce Development Program to help address the shortage of early childhood educators in order to increase access to quality child care by working families.
The program focuses on recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds in under-resourced communities to become early childhood teachers, providing them with training and coaching.
Grant collaborators include the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board, Smart Start of Transylvania County, Children & Family Resource Center of Henderson County, Smart Start Partnership for Children of Henderson County, Madison County Partnership for Children and Families, and Community Action Opportunities, Inc.
NCWorks is a program of the NCWorks Commission of the NC Department of Commerce. The Local Innovation Fund focuses on collaboration across a community or communities to prepare our state’s workforce for the jobs of today and tomorrow.