$1 million grant will help expand early childhood education program at BRCC

FLAT ROCK, N.C. (WLOS) — Dogwood Health Trust has awarded more than $8.3 million to 10 organizations working to expand and improve early childhood education access in the mountains, including Blue Ridge Community College.

“Currently, less than half of children in Henderson County do not have access to quality child care and those working families, approximately 2,000 children in Henderson County are not in licensed child care facilities,” said Shelah Combs, early childhood/teacher education instructor at Blue Ridge Community College.

Combs said Blue Ridge Community College, which received a $1 million grant, is working to increase the pipeline of early childhood educators entering the workforce.

“We’re looking for those that are passionate about working in the field. We know that 90% of critical brain development happens in those first five years of life,” she said.

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The grant from Dogwood Health Trust will fund two full-time early childhood education positions focused on recruiting and success coaching.

“Those individuals will help recruit, they will work one on one with these individuals to make sure they are successful in their program of study and reach completion,” Combs said.

The grant will also allow the college to translate courses into Spanish and create more scholarship opportunities for students.

“Well, if we look at impact, even the impact we currently have, over the last three years, we’ve graduated over 100 students in early childhood education, and this will give us the opportunity to actually expand that,” said Blue Ridge Community College President Dr. Laura Leatherwood.

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Full list of organizations receiving grant funding from Dogwood Health Trust:

• Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Foundation received $510,932 to support Project Blazing Trails: Early Childhood Collegiate Support.
• Blue Ridge Community College Education Foundation received $1,000,000 over a five-year period to support the college’s ECE recruiting and success initiative.
• Children & Family Resource Center of Henderson County received $1,000,000 over a five-year period to support workforce development in Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties
• McDowell Technical Community College received $985,000 to support its project, A Model Community College Childcare Center: Developing a Playbook to Create More Equitable Workforce Solutions for Early Childcare.
• Mountain Projects received $649,286 to support Head Start Workforce, which is responding to current ECE needs as well as the changing demographics of the families it services.
• Southwestern Child Development received $1,000,000 to support Pathways to Early Learning.
• The Enola Group received $617,697 to support the project, The Three Rs: Recruitment, Retention, and Reinforcement of Early Childhood Education.
• Verner received $748,497 to support the Center for Resilient Educators & Families.
• WNC Source, formerly known as Western Carolina Community Action, received $987,914 over five years to support Building Blocks for the ECE Workforce.
• Western Carolina University received $868,885 to support LEAF in ECE: Leadership, Equity, and Access Fellowship in Early Childhood Education.