As a 2014 Millennium Trust grant recipient, the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition (CSPC) is poised to grow its Providers Advancing School Outcomes (PASO) training program.
“Through PASO, we work with childcare providers who are family, friends and neighbors [FFN providers] of preschool-aged children in our low-income, Hispanic community,” said Founder and Executive Director Richard Garcia, a 7th generation Chicano from El Valle de San Luis in southern Colorado. “The Coalition has implemented a number of programs to help parents become more engaged in their kids’ lives. This program emphasizes school readiness.”
According to Garcia, PASO is an intense training program that empowers informal childcare providers to become early childcare and education teachers.
“More than 10 years ago, we started offering some classes through Front Range Community College,” he said. “About 60 women received early childhood education certificates.
“From there, we conducted focus groups to see where kids are at in Boulder County. We learned that there’s a significant achievement gap between Latino and non-Latino children in our state. And we found that there are many women who care for kids in their homes without any training. So in 2005, we implemented PASO.” [Click here to see a brief video in which Garcia further describes PASO, and how it came to be.]
According to the CSPC website, Latino children enter Kindergarten 35 to 40 points below their Anglo counterparts. Additionally, more than 50% of Latino children up to 5 years old are in FFN care.
“To close the achievement gap, we have to start with our youngest children by educating and supporting the women who care for them,” said Garcia, who has also been instrumental in developing The Community Foundation’s School Readiness Initiative. “That’s where PASO comes in, and why it’s critically important to keep this program going.”
PASO focuses on six competency standards and 13 functional areas, even including training in First Aid, CPR and administration. In 2014, PASO graduated 23 women from Boulder County and 20 from Aurora. Of these, 35 are applying for the nationally-recognized Child Development Associate credential, for which PASO is a springboard.
“The Millennium Trust grant will be used to train an additional 22 FFN providers,” said Garcia, who also serves on The Community Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and is a former Board Chair. “These providers are low-income women, so we offer PASO at no cost to them. As a result, many of our graduates have become more stable in their field of work, and increased the number of children in their care.” APA Consulting is currently evaluating the PASO program.
“The contributions of donors to The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County make our work – and that of hundreds of other nonprofits – possible,” Garcia concluded.
This year’s Millennium Trust grant recipients – each of whom received $25,000 – also include Intercambio De Comunidades and the Child Learning Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Each grantee meets this year’s funding focus to address gaps that exist between people who have access to resources, and those who do not; and how those gaps impede achievement and success, especially among children and youth.
The Millennium Trust was established in 1999, as a permanent fund of The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County to serve the needs of residents in perpetuity. It was created by donations from thousands of Boulder County residents giving their last hour of income for the year. People gave money to help meet the needs of the new millennium in the areas of the arts, environment, civic involvement, education, and/or health and human services. Donors to the fund are chosen at random to serve on the annual advisory committee and to select the year’s funding focus. This year, the Millennium Trust exceeded $1M granted.
