PCF has several different means of connecting childcare providers with professional development opportunities. For Patty Garner, the best option was online training.

Patty and Pat Garner have been licensed in childcare for more than 28 years and currently run a family childcare home in Grand Junction called Aunt Patty’s Childcare. Aunt Patty’s is licensed to provide care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Patty acknowledges that new technology has been a challenge for her at times, but when it came to training, technology also allowed her to attend online classes without interrupting her daycare schedule.

“Online training is awesome, because I don’t have to take a night off or tell my parents they have to find somebody else,” Patty says. “With that technology, we are able to do most of the trainings from home, since we run 24/7. I can do my trainings right there online.”

Colorado Shines PDIS

One source of online training is Colorado Shines’ Professional Development Information System (PDIS), which provides self-paced online training related to early care and learning topics including child development, health and safety, and quality instruction—all at no cost.

“Having the coaching from the Partnership for Children and Families has helped us because you can get caught up in a certain way of doing things, being licensed for so many years,” Patty says.

“I think it has been a good program, especially for anybody that’s new who needs that little push to get into the program,” she adds. “New providers would definitely benefit from it.”

Coursework and trainings

PCF can also connect providers with other early care and education courses, and participants are sometimes able to earn college credit for them. For example, with support from the Mesa County Department of Human Services and Mesa County Workforce Center, PCF has offered Child Development Associate classes and modules from the state’s Expanding Quality in Infant–Toddler Care (EQIT) project for college credit.

In fact, during PCF’s 2017–2018 fiscal year, it hosted and/or partnered to conduct 328 hours of professional development childcare trainings for early childhood educators.

Visit one of the websites above or give PCF a call to find out more about opportunities for professional development!