In the third program profile in our series, Alicia Graovac and Barb Brown describe an innovative mentorship program in Southwestern Ontario. The Windsor-Essex Registered Early Childhood Educators (W.E.R.E.C.E.) Mentorship Program is a formalized and comprehensive mentorship program for early learning professionals in the Windsor-Essex region.
This program is designed to be welcoming for early years professionals in any capacity or role across the early years sector. This creates a grassroots approach breaks down silos by connecting educators and administrators from across the field to engage in conversation and allows for development of meaningful professional development sessions based on what the educators are motivated to explore further. Participants in the W.E.R.E.C.E. Mentorship Program are given an honorarium commensurate to the 75 hours they invested into the program. Individuals can rest assured that their time engaging in professional learning is compensated.