The Professional Development Partnership grant, which was funded by three local foundations, is in support of improving the quality of early care and education programs in metro Atlanta," said Assistant Professor Ruth Saxton, grant director and B-5 program coordinator.  

Ten local child development centers were chosen to receive training and mentoring over the next two years. In addition, "the scholarship money from the grant has funded five scholarships, and another five to eight scholarship recipients will be recruited in the fall. They will be placed in these professional development partner centers to work with the teachers and the children there, part of this overall plan toward improving the quality of the centers," Saxton continued.  

The partnership is being funded by grants from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Zeist Foundation and the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation. Funding covers the three years of the program activities, and Saxton hopes that it will be extended.  

"We hope this program will serve as a model for how to provide long-term professional development and have local centers collaborate in training new generations of quality early childhood professionals," Saxton said.