A new partnership aims to incentivize people who want to be child care providers.
Windward Community College’s Family Child Essentials Program began last year to address the critical shortage in childcare, but its completion rate has been low.
That’s why Kamehameha Schools is partnering with the program to provide stipends and a completion grant to help recruit and retain students.
Program coordinator Cassia Simms says most participants were either working full-time jobs or couldn’t find child care for their own children.
"Recognizing that and the busy schedules that they had and that they needed to dedicate to this, which was a lot of time opening a business, Kamehameha is giving stipends to help to support them," Simms sais.
"So that is $30 per session that they attend. And then, also it’s a lot of money to open a business – any business. So there’s $1,000 of a completion grant," she told HPR.
Simms says the program will start its next cohort this Wednesday. More information can be found here.
