When Aubrey Floyd graduated from Joliet Junior College on May 15, she did more than receive an associate degree in applied science in child development.

Floyd fulfilled a lifelong dream.

Floyd, a lead teacher in the 2-year-old room at KLA Schools of Plainfield, said she was one of the first students to complete JJC’s Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program, which Floyd began in December 2024 and completed in February.

“I just happened to sit next to this girl on the first day of class,” said Floyd, whose interested in taeching began as a second-grader. “She told me about the apprenticeship at KLA and how great it was. I’d had no idea how to get into a childcare center.”

JJC recently grew its apprenticeship program by expanding its partnership with Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet’s Head Start program that offers childcare and education services on JJC’s Main Campus.

Under the expanded partnership, JJC’s child development program will also refer specific students for apprenticeships at Catholic Charities’ Head Start’s five centers in Will County and its two partner sites, according to Maggie Snow, director of communications for Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet.

“An apprenticeship is the ideal learning environment to prepare for a career,” Snow said. “Around 30% of our early childhood staff was educated at JJC. This is a great collaboration that will help prepare students to work in early childhood education and childcare and help Catholic Charities recruit great talent.”

Julie Brancaleon, apprenticeship coordinator at JJC, said Head Start is a quality program that’s “been around a long time with great results. And it’s very invested in the apprenticeship program. They want to see it succeed; they want to see our students do well and become good teachers for them.”

Other apprenticeship employers include Kid Country Childcare in Manhattan, Kiddie Academy in Lemont and New Lenox, KinderCare Plainfield, KLA Schools in west Naperville and Plainfield, Learn with Me Daycare in Plainfield and Step by Step Child Care Center in Diamond, Morris and Shorewood.

Pairing knowledge with experience

Kathy Fudge-White, director of the early childhood services for Catholic Charities in Joliet, said the apprenticeship program allows early childhood education students to engage with children under the direction of a mentor teacher while attending classes at JJC.

The Joliet Catholic Charities will employ these students at $17 an hour. The students may work up to 28 hours per week, she said.

Dain Meza-Gotto, director of workforce development at JJC, said interest in developing this apprenticeship program began in 2020 and was quickly shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “group of faculty really passionate about it” regrouped in 2022, resulting in the Department of Labor approving and registering the program in 2024, Meza-Gotto said.

Melissa Szymczak, child development program coordinator at JJC, said the industry had lost many teachers when centers closed or limited enrollment during the pandemic.

So faculty wanted to address teacher shortages by bringing “more people into the field of early childhood education with a strong start,” while offering them mentors, role models and a “college career path that is clear and seamless,” Szymczak said.

Brancaleon said she recruits the students, finds them a place in the program and monitors their progress.

Each partner employer has a journey worker on-site, which is an employee of the partner site who monitors progress, serves as the student’s mentor, and updates JJC, she said.

Floyd appreciated the support.

“I had someone to help me reflect on my teaching and offer me guidance from the very beginning,” Floyd said. “I never had to ask for feedback.”

Most apprentices take the program very seriously, she said. “It’s not easy to go to work and go to school,” Brancaleon said.

The employment is separate from the coursework. If apprentices stop taking classes, they may keep working for the employer, she said.

Some students decide – once they’re in the program – working in a childcare center isn’t for them, Brancaleon said. So they’re able to exit before “spending all their money on books and classes,” she added.

“One of my apprentices said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’ and went into nursing,” Brancaleon said.

After completing the apprenticeship, students could work as a lead teacher in a qualified childcare center, Szymczak said.

They may stay with the employer and many do, Brancaleon said.

“It’s hard to find employees who want to do these kinds of jobs,” Brancaleon said. “The job force is sort of compromised after the COVID shutdown and restarting. We’re building up the workforce with very well-educated employees.”

“Unlike other jobs, when your job is in early childhood education, you’re working with children from day one,” Szymczak said. “You’re working with preschoolers; you’re working with 2-year-olds. And you’re – hopefully – helping to facilitate their development from the first interaction."

Community investment

Early childhood education program apprenticeships “can be a little bit costly,” so they need good support and funding to make them happen, Meza-Gotto said.

John Hall, business services and apprenticeship supervisor at Workforce Investment Board of Will County, said he was working closely with JJC as they developed the apprenticeship program when a new grant popped up - the Apprenticeship Expansion Competitive Grant Program through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The grant supports workforce programs that expand Registered Apprenticeship Programs and pre-apprenticeship programs that lead to Registered Apprenticeship Programs.

Meza-Gotto said the early childhood education apprenticeship program is also receiving funding from Early Care & Education Pathways to Success.

Funding for the apprenticeship program for Oct. 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, came from Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Supplemental Funding grants that were awarded to the Workforce Investment Board of Will County and the Grundy Livingston Kankakee Workforce Investment Board, he said.

“We also utilized another (Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity) grant during the first year,” Meza-Gotto said.

Meza-Gotto said the current budget of $194,270 will support the apprenticeship programs from Oct. 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.

“Our goal is to serve 55 apprentices and 40 pre-apprentices with this grant, so that equates to approximately $2,788 per participant,” he said.

Potential students for the program could include high school students already taking classes in early childhood education or students working in camps or as babysitters, Szymczak said.

JJC is hosting a pre-apprenticeship program this summer for 10 to 15 students, Brancaleon said.

“Also, if we look at our populations in our area, many of our students may be bilingual or may be people of color,” Szymczak said. “We want to get those people in our classroom because we want them to work with young children to represent the diversity of our culture.”

Brancaleon hopes to attract more male apprentices, too.

“It has been predominantly female,” Brancaleon said. “But I’m hoping to get more men to join. We need them in early childhood education.”