Continuing Monterey County Preschool Service Corps
United Way Monterey County
232 Monterey St., Suite 200, Salinas
(831) 372-8026, unitedwaymcca.org/americorps-psc
Someone has to teach little kids how to play all those games – and how to develop the building blocks of letters, numbers and social skills that will make game-playing fun. That someone is quite often a preschool teacher, but there is a well-documented shortage in Monterey County. Enter the Preschool Service Corps, a win-win that gets aspiring teachers into the pipeline for a modest training stipend, and kids matched with those adults as tutors. Then the White House yanked funding for AmeriCorps, where those stipends came from. Instead of capitulating, local program administrator United Way decided to keep it going. They found a state grant in the absence of federal funding, and recruited new teachers for 2025-26. “We are proud of the program, and if there’s any chance to continue it we want to give it our all,” CEO Katy Castagna says. That’s a win for everyone who is playing.
