LOCK HAVEN — Early Care and Education, or ECE, is experiencing a serious shortage of qualified professionals to keep providers operating at their full capacity.

Nationwide and locally, the providers of care for children ranging from birth to primary school eligibility are struggling with regular classroom shutdowns and reduced capacities. The cascading impacts are not just felt by students and their families, but also by local employers.

STEP’s most recent Community Assessment, which asks customers, community members and other stakeholders to identify the needs of their service area, saw finding safe and affordable childcare as one of the top needs in Lycoming and Clinton counties. With that knowledge, STEP applied for and obtained ARPA funding through Lycoming County to get the Substitute Aide Pool Program, or SAPP, off the ground in 2024.

After the success of the Lycoming County SAPP, STEP obtained a Truist Foundation grant for the program to expand to Clinton County and additionally obtained the United Way Innovation Solutions Grant to support the expansion to Tioga County.

STEP, through the Early Learning Resource Center for Region 7, developed the SAPP to support ECE providers in Lycoming County.

However, the need within Clinton and Tioga counties is just as great and the agency is now looking to expand to cover the three-county ELRC 7 service area.

The substitute classroom aides hired by STEP receive all necessary clearances, orientation, onboarding and training related to the job position, including health and safety topics.

These aides meet all Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) certification requirements and are provided with 12 hours of continuing education each year.

The aides are hired directly by STEP.

ECE providers have been and are continually invited to become members of the SAPP so that they can utilize the certified classroom aides on an as-needed basis.

Individuals who participate in the program as aides are offered valuable classroom experience, flexible schedules and continuing education. The aides set their availability parameters and pick up shifts using a mobile app, with the ECE providers having final approval over the workers coming to their facilities.

The River Valley Regional YMCA, which currently utilizes the pool for their Lycoming County locations, is excitedly awaiting its expansion to Clinton County.

Expansion will allow the Jersey Shore branch to utilize SAPP at all of their sites.

Ultimately, the SAPP is designed to support and expand high-quality childcare in Lycoming,

Clinton and Tioga counties while improving and strengthening essential infrastructure that impacts children, families, employers and the ECE providers in our community.