The Public Education Foundation (PEF) is proud to announce a $100,000 investment in Nevada’s future educators by Nevada Gold Mines (NGM). This generous gift builds on NGM’s past support to public schools by providing financial support to current paraprofessionals and guest teachers working towards becoming licensed educators through PEF’s Teacher Pathway program.

Teacher Pathway recruits, supports, and retains diverse, qualified individuals committed to a teaching career in partnership with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Clark County School District (CCSD). This “grow your own” teacher training program assists individuals already working in public schools to become licensed teachers, which will simultaneously help to address the ongoing teacher shortage crisis. This issue is particularly prevalent in CCSD, which started the 2022-2023 school year with more than 1,400 teacher vacancies.

“There is a clear urgent need to recruit and train more educators in southern Nevada. As such, Nevada Gold Mines is proud to invest in this workforce development initiative that will provide higher education opportunities to local Nevadans while supporting public schools and educators. Public Education Foundation has been a long-time partner and when they presented this opportunity to NGM, we were happy to quickly join in on this important work”, said Alissa Wood, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Barrick North America.

The investment by NGM will support candidates as they work to complete courses to prepare them for the Paraprofessional Pathways Project (PPP) at UNLV. On average, participants in the Teacher Pathway program have an additional five college courses to complete before they can enter the UNLV PPP program. Through NGM’s support, 39 candidates have received financial support to complete their courses and apply for their teacher training program. An additional group of candidates will receive financial support for summer 2023.

“This generous commitment by Nevada Gold Mines is driving opportunity for our future educators who need financial support to achieve their dreams of becoming classroom teachers,” said Rich Broome, CEO of the Public Education Foundation. “Thanks to Nevada Gold Mines, we can address the biggest obstacle our mentees face, which is funding the process of preparing for a teacher training program, and ensure participants are able to enter the classroom and support Nevada’s students.”

The Teacher Pathway program prepares paraprofessionals and guest teachers for the UNLV PPP program. This tuition-free, largely virtual program helps participants earn their teaching license at an accelerated pace so they can lead their own classrooms. The program has been incredibly successful, partly due to the wraparound services it offers, including its partnership with PEF to prepare candidates entering into the UNLV PPP program and support graduates for their first three years in the classroom.

While in Teacher Pathway, participants are paired with master teachers to help ensure they are prepared for the UNLV PPP program, including completing pre-requisite coursework and testing, understanding the time requirements of their teacher preparation program, arranging for childcare and transportation, and more.

To learn more about the Teacher Pathway program and the Public Education Foundation, please visit thepef.org.