Grow Your Own ECE

Young children thrive when nurtured and educated by passionate, qualified educators who comprehend their unique needs. However, the supply of qualified professionals has diminished over time, prompting early care and education (ECE) programs in all settings (home-, center-, and school-based) to seek innovative strategies to continue operating. 

Grow Your Own is an umbrella term that describes the many and dynamic, community-driven, equity-centered, holistic approaches designed to help communities support, strengthen, and sustain a well-qualified, experienced, and diverse ECE workforce by nurturing the talents that exist within it and removing barriers to entering and staying in the field. These strategies attract individuals from diverse backgrounds and life experiences who are new to ECE (e.g., high school students, career changers, parents of young children, non-classroom program staff) to enter the field and assist the existing ECE workforce in meeting their career aspirations.  

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Grow Your Own ECE Quick Links

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Grow Your Own ECE Webinar Series

Learn more about the essential elements of implementing Grow Your Own strategies from experts and those with on-the-ground experience. 

Grow Your ECE Own Videos

These videos spotlight several successful Grow Your Own initiatives in communities across the country. You can use these suggested social media posts to share the videos with your networks. 

Grow Your Own ECE Resources

These tools are designed to support implementation of Grow Your Own strategies in your community. Stay tuned for additional resources released throughout the campaign.