JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A 3 On Your Side Exclusive on a new program from the Mississippi Department of Human Services that is making sure Child Care facilities have the workers they need to stay open and provide services to children and their families. The Substitute Teacher Initiative is the first of its kind in the nation.

The new program has been in operation for a year. Officials with the Mississippi Department of Human Services say the Early Childhood Care and Development Substitute teacher initiative has given job opportunities at facilities across the state, which in turn has kept parents in the workforce.

Chad Allgood, MDHS Director of the Division of Early Childhood Care and Development, said, “When you talk about sustaining any kind of industry, you’ve also got to talk about building up the child care options for people that are going to work bottom line. So it’s absolutely crucial.”

By providing a pool of substitute teachers who have already been recruited, screened, and trained, the program is connecting qualified individuals with the facilities who need them, whether it’s for a day or longer. The program is also helping address needs in childcare deserts like the Mississippi Delta.

“With our child care industry, which is primarily our birth to five range. We are seeing just a high level of turnover in that field, especially since the pandemic. There are other industries we’re unfortunately losing teachers to those other, those other businesses because they can pay more”, Allgood said.

Nancy Sylvester is the director of Global Connection Learning Center, which has been open at Jackson Medical Mall for 15 years. The program focuses on teen mothers and their babies.

Sylvester said, “There are no fees associated. As long as they’re willing to re-enroll in school and keep their grades up, their behavior has to be good. Come to our after-school program where we work with them on parenting skills and financial literacy. We have a number of things that we work with them on, but they cannot have a repeat pregnancy.”

Sylvester says the substitute teacher pool became available while she was fighting breast cancer.

Nancy Sylvester said, “It made a tremendous difference. It took so much pressure off of me, I felt like I was able to relax and just heal from everything that I had gone through because we had staff here, I could get people in. Classes were covered.”

According to MDHS, over 300 substitute teachers are in the pool. An average of 40 job postings are listed per day statewide. 909 jobs were filled in July.

The program was originally scheduled to run for one year, but it has been so successful the project has now been extended an additional year through June 30, 2025. You can find more information on the program here.

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