LLCC has been awarded an Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE) grant of nearly $650,000 to help those who work or who have worked in early childhood education or childcare in earning credentials, certificates and degrees. They may also qualify for a scholarship that covers the total cost of attendance if they are pursuing an additional degree or certificate in the field.
“There is a teacher shortage in early childhood education. In addition to playing an important role in the development of children, these professionals help keep our world as we know it going around,” explains Danyle Watkins, LLCC professor of early childhood education. “Imagine a workday without any available daycare. This would have a dramatic impact on the workforce. Many parents would not be able to go to work or provide needed services.”
As part of the grant, LLCC is adding classes and now has an early childhood education advocate, Marlena Constant. She helps future students with applications for the college, scholarships and financial aid. She also provides support and connects students with any needed services.
“I’m a barrier remover. When things like needs for technology, Wi-Fi or gas money are hurdles to your education, we can assist,” says Constant. “We are about cohorts, friendship, collaboration and built-in supports.”
LLCC also plans on implementing prior learning assessments and developing incentives for completion and spaces specifically for early childhood education students to study and get assistance.
ECACE is also collaborating with the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to provide the scholarships.
For more information on LLCC’s early childhood education program, visit www.llcc.edu/ece.
Dr. Bailey Shaw, professor of English, has a chapter “‘I’d have my life unbe’: Undoing Experience in Tess of the d’Urbervilles” in the forthcoming book #MeToo and Modernism (Clemson UP, February 2023). Using several canonical authors and texts alongside some lesser-known but nonetheless important writers, the collection combines chapters of literary criticism regarding the foreshadowing implications of the ongoing #MeToo movement during the Modernist era. Professor Shaw’s chapter examines the vexed publication history of Tess and Thomas Hardy’s recurrent alterations to the text in the context of the #MeToo movement. Through the novel’s growing attention to representing Tess’s subjectivity, the “ache of modernism” is painfully revealed through Tess, a “Pure Woman” who is made to suffer in a world without justice.
Photo: Speaking at a press conference today about LLCC’s $5 million training grant were L-R: Don Schaefer, executive vice president, Mid-West Truckers Association; Dan Smith, vice president of product support, Roland Machinery Co.; Charlotte Warren, Ph.D., president, LLCC; Ken Elmore, chair, LLCC Board of Trustees; and Christopher McDowell, M.D., associate professor and chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, SIU School of Medicine.