BMCC receives grant funds to provide educational opportunities to tribal Head Start programs
Bay Mills – The Early Childhood Education Program at Bay Mills Community College has been awarded $642,675 for the first year of a five-year grant to support ECE student’s degree completion. The funds were awarded by the Administration for Children and Families, the Office of Head Start, with the purpose of establishing or enhancing partnerships with Head Start programs that effectively increase the number of qualified education staff working in American Indian Alaska Native Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
ECE is for students who are interested in working with young children, birth to eight years of age, and their families. Students acquire an understanding of developmental patterns in such areas as appropriate to learning, social and emotional development, language and literacy, cognition, perceptual, motor, and physical development. A secondary focus is imparting an understanding of Native American culture as it applies to children in early childhood programs.
BMCC will work in partnership with five additional tribal Head Start Programs to provide this educational opportunity to their staff, calling the program HOPEE- Honoring Our People Through Equity and Education.
The five partnering tribal Head Starts include:
- Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indian Early Childhood Program
- Hannahville Tribal Head Start
- Mississippi Choctaw Head Start Program
- Seneca Nation Early Childhood Learning Center
- Aleutian Pribilof Island Head Start Program
Those taking part in the program will receive advising support, onsite tutoring, and free tuition for Native and non-Native students. In addition, tribal sites in the program will be provided with laptops to assist students in completing their work, and textbooks to support the completion of degree programs.
Additional incentives for students include the first 50 new students that apply to BMCC and remain enrolled past the drop date will be provided with a $500 scholarship each semester, for up to three semesters a year. The first 35 students who continue from the associate’s degree program to the bachelor’s degree program receive $500 for each semester they enroll and continue their education.
“Continuing education can be daunting when working full time and balancing life in general. The success efforts embedded in HOPEE promote a whole student approach starting with relationships,” said ECE Department Chair Heather Stelzer. “It’s much more comfortable to accomplish goals with the genuine support of your employer, peers, and higher institution.”
BMCC currently has 170 students enrolled in the ECE program and is the only tribal college to provide the bachelor’s degree program entirely online.
Bay Mills Community College received approval to offer its first bachelor’s degree completely online beginning Fall 2018. The Bachelor of Arts Degree in Early Childhood Education is intended to assist in the preparation of teachers and administrators of Native American Head Start/Early Head Start facilities nationwide. BMCC also offers an Associate of Arts and a Certificate of Completion in Early Childhood Education completely online and has been providing students with online education opportunities for more than 20 years.
