Serving Burke and nearby counties since 1980, The Enola Group (TEG) offers innovative services and opportunities for expecting parents, infants, toddlers, preschoolers, families and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Services for children and pregnant parents include Early Head Start (EHS) programming, offered at no cost to eligible families. EHS provides early childhood education (ECE) in a variety of formats to meet clients where they are and promote healthy growth and outcomes for children, parents and families. Whether the programming takes place in the classroom, within local resource centers, or in the home, TEG’s EHS programs also help families find and access medical and dental services and other essential resources to enhance health and well-being for the whole family.
This work would not be possible without early childhood educators, also known as “the workforce behind the workforce.” As a participant in Dogwood’s ECE Workforce initiative and in partnership with Western Piedmont Community College’s ECE department, TEG has embarked on a two-year project titled “The 3 Rs: Recruitment, Retention and Reinforcement. This project will address ways to stabilize, increase and diversify the pool of qualified and quality educators by providing existing educators, childcare center directors and recruited students with various opportunities for support and professional development. Focus areas include leadership opportunities for members of the ECE workforce, creating culturally responsive environments for children, addressing racial and implicit bias, and promoting effective behavior management strategies and positive approaches to discipline. By supporting a stable and sustainable ECE workforce, TEG provides the community with an essential resource to prepare children and families for success at every stage of the early childhood experience.
