{"id":87637,"date":"2025-12-09T14:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/87637\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:24:08","slug":"bay-area-nonprofit-matches-teachers-to-head-start-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/87637\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Area nonprofit matches teachers to head start efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Share<\/a>Nargiz Mammadli and Emmanuel \u201cManny\u201d Morando Neri both have a passion for teaching, and in particular, teaching young learners. Early Childhood Education Substitute Teacher Empowerment & Placement<\/a> (ECE STEP) is looking to provide connections and training to help them pursue both.<\/p>\n

With an eye toward careers in education, both Mammadli and Morando Neri said they have gotten a boost from resources provided by the nonprofit commonly known as ECE STEP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was inspired to be a teacher when I was in third grade and I was 8 years old,\u201d Mammadli said. \u201cShe was so nice I decided right then I wanted to be a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morando Neri expressed a similar enthusiasm for teaching younger children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always liked the idea of being involved in early childhood education,\u201d Morando Neri said. \u201cI can teach kids in early childhood education about social-emotional competencies. I can help children learn how to regulate and how to navigate through their emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

ECE STEP launched a program in 2018 to help people gain skills and find posts as substitute teachers \u2014 and pave the way for permanent positions.<\/p>\n

\"MannyManny Morando Neri a teacher with the Early Childhood Education Substitute Teacher Empowerment Program works with children at the Kai Ming Children\u2019s Center on Thursday, Oct. 30 2025, in San Francisco, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to train, manage, empower and place teachers in early childhood programs,\u201d said Sabrina Dong, an official with ECE STEP. \u201cThe whole concept is to address the shortage of teachers in the Bay Area. We bring in people with minimum experience as a teacher, and we support them all the way through the process. I am proud of the program. We are seeing a lot of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least 300 teachers have gone through the program, according to Dong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fill staffing gaps,\u201d Dong said. \u201cIt\u2019s more than workforce development. The focus is also on teacher development and supplying the teacher pipeline. The goal is to transition our trainees so they can become permanent teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

This sort of training program is essential at a time when qualified teachers are anything but plentiful, Morando Neri said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an overall shortage of educators, but there\u2019s also a shortage of educators who can address early childhood needs,\u201d Morando Neri said. \u201cA lot of educators are older, and because they are older, they have a more traditional way of teaching that doesn\u2019t address social-emotional learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

ECE STEP also seeks to create a welcoming atmosphere that goes beyond the dry nuts and bolts of training sessions, according to Mammadli.<\/p>\n

\"TeachersTeachers Nargiz Mammadli, left, and Manny Morando Neri, right, with the Early Childhood Education Substitute Teacher Empowerment Program work with children at the Kai Ming Children\u2019s Center on Thursday, Oct. 30 2025, in San Francisco, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are more like a family,\u201d Mammadli said. \u201cThey email me to see how I\u2019m doing. They are paying $1,500 a year so I can take some units in college. I\u2019m taking online classes from a school in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

ECE STEP has been able to place teachers in an array of early childhood programs, according to Dong. These include Head Start, Early Head Start, and state-financed nonprofits that provide early childhood education.<\/p>\n

Both Mammadli and Morando Neri said they have been able to teach at an Early Start program site in Concord after they went through the training program with ECE STEP.<\/p>\n

The two teachers also aim to become entrepreneurs once they get enough teaching experience. Both want to go beyond being employed teachers and aspire to start their own daycare businesses at some point.<\/p>\n

Officials at ECE STEP are concerned that the current system of finding substitute teachers, a process that\u2019s usually done under pressure of last-minute teacher absences, is outmoded.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly childhood educators are often at the mercy of last-minute phone calls and Rolodexes when trying to resolve immediate teacher shortages,\u201d states a pamphlet by ECE STEP.<\/p>\n

\"NargizNargiz Mammadli, center, a teacher with the Early Childhood Education Substitute Teacher Empowerment Program works with children at the Kai Ming Children\u2019s Center on Thursday, Oct. 30 2025, in San Francisco, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

ECE STEP believes a tech-powered approach is an important solution to the scramble to find substitute teachers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe STEP program replaces these clunky measures with an intuitive app that allows childhood educators to book a teacher with the push of a button,\u201d ECE STEP states.<\/p>\n

Morando Neri and Mammadli each said they have been quick to form bonds with the young children they are teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn my first day of shadowing at a program, the kids would run to me, try to hold my hand, and one wanted to play tag,\u201d Morando Neri said. \u201cAll the others were the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mammadli also believes she is able to provide the children with more than just early childhood teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have a special bond with the kids,\u201d Mammadli said. \u201cI can give them a comfort space. I love to be part of their lives, and to hear the stories they make up, and to experience the giggles and the hugs, and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NargizNargiz Mammadli, second from left, a teacher with the Early Childhood Education Substitute Teacher Empowerment Program works with children at the Kai Ming Children\u2019s Center on Thursday, Oct. 30 2025, in San Francisco, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Share<\/a>
ABOUT SHARE THE SPIRIT
Share the Spirit is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by the East Bay Times\/Bay Area News Group. Since 1989, Share the Spirit has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.<\/p>\n

HOW TO HELP
Donations will help Early Childhood Education Substitute Teacher Empowerment & Placement (ECE STEP)<\/a> to expand its East Bay operations, training and supporting 6 substitute teachers to fill roughly 30 vacant classrooms and enable about 600 low-income children to receive high-quality care and learning. Goal: $10,000<\/p>\n

HOW TO GIVE
Donate at sharethespiriteastbay.org\/donate <\/a>or by mail using this form.<\/a> Donations are tax deductible.<\/p>\n

ONLINE EXTRA
Read other Share the Spirit stories, view photos and video at sharethespiriteastbay.org.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nargiz Mammadli and Emmanuel \u201cManny\u201d Morando Neri both have a passion for teaching, and in particular, teaching young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[389,184,7,8,390,391,392,49042,332,383,15,1286,4730,992,3938,100,5466,993,395,101,396,103,102,88,397,198,104,106,105,49043,49044,2720,3628,200,3797],"class_list":["post-87637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-central-contra-costa","tag-concord","tag-contra-costa-county","tag-early-education","tag-east-bay","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-jobs","tag-k-12-education","tag-marin-county","tag-napa-county","tag-news","tag-nonprofits","tag-north-bay","tag-peninsula","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-san-jose","tag-san-mateo-county","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-share-the-spirit","tag-share-the-spirit-2025","tag-solano-county","tag-sonoma-county","tag-south-bay","tag-teachers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}