Workforce Development
Our Workforce Development strategy is designed to recruit new educators to the field, give current educators opportunities for educational advancement and provide support, guidance, and financial incentives to everyone along the way.
Pathways Program
The primary program supporting our Workforce Development strategy is our Pathways Program. Pathways is a comprehensive program designed to help early learning professionals grow, thrive, and achieve their career goals. DEC works with partners across San Francisco to offer structured pathways supporting every step of the professional development and educational attainment trajectory in the ECE field, from General Educational Development (GED) to Master’s degree. Pathways programs include academic scholarships, on-the-job training, core support services like laptops and textbooks, personalized coaching and more.
Workforce Development Pilot Programs
As we continue to develop and refine our Pathways Program, DEC is also administering two shorter-term Workforce Development pilot programs. These pilots were developed prior to the launch of our Pathways Program as a temporary means to support and recognize those educators already pursuing professional development who may not have had the benefit of participating in DEC-funded Pathway programming.
SEEPD supports educators working at City-funded early care and education programs by providing stipends for educational and professional milestones completed within the preceding twelve months.
2. Professional Development Advising
Professional Development Advising offers free multilingual individual and group advising to early educators. We focus specifically on evening and weekend advising hours to align with working educator’s schedules and to fill gaps in traditional advising options that are not usually available outside of standard business hours.