In York County and across the nation, early childhood programs are struggling to hire and retain qualified educators. According to a 2026 National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) survey, early childhood education program leaders reported increases in staff turnover more than four times as often as they reported decreases.
At the Hanover Area YMCA, mentorship is becoming a powerful solution.
“Some of our biggest challenges with the workforce have been finding high-quality teachers that this is their passion, teachers that take the trainings, have degrees, and are in here for the long term so that we don’t have the turnover,” says Child Care Director Katie Nelson.
That’s why the YMCA has focused intensely on mentorship and internal training in its workforce strategy and why it enrolls team members in the Teacher Aide Program, offered through Every Child Has Opportunities, an initiative led by Community Connections for Children and York County Economic Alliance. New-to-early-learning employees will join the ECHO teacher aide virtual cohort that launches in April to help strengthen the training pipeline for educators.
Mentorship in action
The Early Learning Center pairs all new hires with a mentor teacher as they acclimate to their role and learn the basics in health, safety, policy, and procedure.
For Gabby Newman, who teaches in the 2- and 3-year-old classroom, mentorship has played a key role in her growth as an educator.
“Mentorship is important because you get to shadow alongside somebody who’s been doing this for ages,” she says. “Everybody has stuff to bring to the table, people who have been here for a year or 20 years.”
Gabby’s path has included working as a floater, teaching alongside experienced educators, and serving in leadership roles before returning to the classroom, which she refers to as her true passion.
“My heart belongs in the classroom,” she says. “Being fun, silly with the kids, it makes my day so much better.”
That collaborative environment in which experienced staffers help newer educators build confidence and fit into the early learning field is exactly the kind of workforce ecosystem that ECHO’s programming aims to support.
A profession that relies on relationships
Mentorship also gives teachers a built-in support system. Infant room teacher and mentor Megan Rhine sees the value daily.
“One of the benefits of having mentors is that if something comes up, teachers can come and get guidance,” she says. “We offer them support. There’s a whole community surrounding them.”
Gabby and Megan describe early childhood education as highly rewarding work focused on deepening relationships with children and families.
“I love these kids, getting to watch them grow and seeing their achievements,” Megan says. “We have amazing families that we get to support.”
Stable teaching teams not only benefit children; they also ensure working families have reliable care that allows them to stay in the workforce.
ECHO Innovation Grants strengthen quality
Beyond classroom relationships and mentorship, the Hanover Area YMCA focuses on creating spaces that are conducive to learning. With support from an ECHO Innovation Grant, the YMCA opened a new preschool classroom, expanded outdoor learning space, and adopted a bilingual curriculum — directly increasing access and quality for local families.
“The ECHO Innovation Grant definitely helped us expand,” Katie says. “We opened a new preschool classroom, and the outdoor space, it really has improved the quality of our space for our children”
The grant also supported adoption of a new bilingual curriculum called Frog Street, which aligns with early childhood standards while giving teachers structured resources for lesson planning and family communication.
Through mentorship, innovative training opportunities, and support from ECHO, the Early Learning Center is investing in teachers who shape a child’s earliest years and is seeing that investment’s benefits ripple directly to children and families.
Retaining quality teams requires financial supports
Maintaining competitive wages and benefits has been a major challenge for many early learning centers like the Hanover Area YMCA Early Learning Program.
According to the 2026 NAEYC survey, more than half of educators who indicated they were considering leaving the field reported they would be very or extremely likely to stay if they had access to increased wages and benefits, overtime pay, adequate support from colleagues/administrators, and student loan forgiveness.
Since parents cannot afford to pay more in tuition, opening pathways to increase wages and benefits requires additional public investment. Early childhood educators though are reporting that funding trends are moving in the wrong direction.
As the York County community looks for solutions to strengthen the early childhood workforce, the model taking shape at the Hanover Area YMCA offers a hopeful glimpse into what could work moving forward. By investing in mentorship and professional development, and by leveraging initiatives like ECHO, the center is helping educators stay in the field.
Sustaining that progress will require continued investment and recognition of the vital role early childhood educators play. When teachers are supported, children benefit, families remain connected to the workforce, and communities grow stronger from the very start. The progress will only continue through increased public investment.
Every Child Has Opportunities is an early childhood education initiative in York County, Pennsylvania, led by Community Connections for Children and York County Economic Alliance. Funding partners include WellSpan Health, the J. William Warehime Foundation, the Powder Mill Foundation, United Way of York County, the Kinsley Foundation, and the York County Community Foundation.
YWCA York and Little Bug Learning have received direct investment and support through the ECHO initiative. For more information on ECHO’s grant programs, visit www.echoyork.org/grants-and-programs.