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Program Support Overview What does "cross-sector" mean? "Cross-sector" training refers to shared training opportunities across disciplines for Utah’s early childhood community.  The field of early childhood education encompasses many diverse entities including classroom and home-based teachers, child care providers, administrators, and higher education faculty just to name a few.  The term “cross-sector” refers to all individuals and agencies serving young children, ages 0-8 and their families.  A cross-sector early childhood professional development approach links the entire early childhood community in Utah and provides them with a myriad of training opportunities. What is Utah’s vision for cross-sector professional development? When Utah’s early childhood community works collaboratively everyone wins.  The work of the Utah Cross-Sector Early Childhood Professional Development Task Force is conceptualized to create an avenue in which Utah’s early childhood community can work collaboratively by: sharing training opportunities supporting new and non-traditional students obtaining degrees in the early childhood field promoting professional development opportunities for novice teachers and administrators strengthening early childhood programs and agencies through providing structures for sharing information and working on initiatives together How do we build capacity within the state? Utah’s ability to strengthen and build capacity in the area of professional development will be contingent upon the early childhood community working collaboratively.  In doing so, programs can save costs through shared training opportunities.  Staff will continually build their skill sets through ongoing and individualized professional development opportunities.  Networking opportunities will naturally emerge as the early childhood community works together in cross-sector training efforts.  Through thoughtful and unified efforts, Utah can maximize training resources. Utah’s Blueprint for Cross-Sector Early Childhood Professional Development sheds light on the challenges of supporting the non-traditional college student, creating higher education articulation agreements, and coordinating early childhood training systems.  This document records the process and analysis of the current key issues of early childhood professional development in Utah and gives recommendations that policymakers, institutions of higher education, training programs, and early childhood programs can take and promote to support early childhood practitioners in obtaining degrees. How is Utah supporting the early childhood profession? The Collaborative Partnerships and Early Childhood Professional Development Milestones Matrix provides an overview of the collaborative partnerships and early childhood professional development accomplishments in Utah.  This illustrates the commitment and dedication of the early childhood field to provide early childhood programs with trained professionals.