For more than 50 years, Elk Grove Adult and Community Education (EGACE) has responded to the ever-changing learning needs of our growing South Sacramento County and Elk Grove communities.

 

The 1960s brought the beginnings of adult education. It started with three groups of parents. The first group wanted to finish getting their high school education; the other two groups were Spanish and Portuguese workers who needed citizenship classes. The first classes began in the fall of 1961 with 83 adults enrolled.

 

The adult education classes paved the way for Elk Grove’s preschools. In 1963 a group of parents from the Florin community joined forces with EGACE to start the Partners Preschool Program. By including parent education with preschool, Partners provided an opportunity for parents to be actively involved in their children’s learning. In Elk Grove, George Fite, principal of Pleasant Grove Elementary School, helped the preschool parents set up classes under adult education just like those in Florin.

 

The next program added to EGACE’s services was Adult Secondary Education. In 1970 high school diploma and GED® classes where held at Daylor and Elk Grove high schools. Elk Grove Adult and Community Training (EGACT) followed in 1971 with classes for adults with disabilities. Parents of disabled students at Jessie Baker School saw a need for their late teen and young adult children. EGACT continues to provide habilitation and occupation training at two Elk Grove sites. Also in 1971, EGACE started offering educational services at the Sacramento County’s Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center.

 

The 1980s brought new educational opportunities to the Florin region and a program for older adults in Elk Grove. The Adult Education Learning Center (AELC) opened on Florin Road, offering upholstery and GED® classes. The older adults program started with a quilting group that met in a facility at Elk Grove Park. With support from fund raising and the local community services district, the Senior Center of Elk Grove opened in 1983, which housed classes for older adults.

 

In 1993, EGACE opened its Business and Technical Training Institute (BTTI) on Gerber Road in South Sacramento. BTTI offered programs in computer repair services, networking management and medical billing and transcribing. In 1995, EGACE moved its headquarters to an adjacent facility on Gerber Road. The Always Learning Program, a fee-based program that offered a number of community education classes along with GED® testing and employment proficiency tests for paraeducator, custodial and clerical job seekers, was the next to start. In 1997 the Sacramento Employment Training Agency (SETA) opened the South County Career Center (SCCC) at EGACE’s Gerber site. The SCCC offered an array of services designed to enhance the effectiveness of job seekers and link employers to potential employees. EGACE implemented the Community-Based Education (CBET) Program in 1998 to provide ESL instruction to adults who pledged to tutor English Learner (EL) children attending EGUSD schools. EGACE has offered CBET classes at as many as 11 community sites a year.

 

In 2000, EGACE incorporated the SETA-founded Youth Works programs into the South County Career Center. Youth Works gives youth the individual support they need to become successful employees including case management, secondary education completion, occupational skills training and access to employment training resources and career preparation workshops. Youth Works subsidizes work experience assignments for up to 90 young adults a year. EGACE added two contracts in 2001 and 2003 that support the workforce development of adults. Through a grant with the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance, EGACE provided learning disabilities evaluations and vocational assessments for CalWORKs recipients. A contract with the state Department of Rehabilitation gave EGACE the means to start a WorkAbility II program for disabled which offered employment coaching, vocational assessment testing and follow-up services.

 

Under the management of EGACE, the California School-Aged Families Education (Cal-SAFE) Program moved from Calvine High School to Daylor High School in 2001. Cal-SAFE provides case management and supportive services to pregnant and parenting teens and childcare for their infant and toddler children. In 2001 the EGACE ESL program expanded to add the English Literacy and Civics Education Project and Distance Learning, which offers instruction away from traditional classroom via video checkout and online delivery systems in ESL, GED® test preparation and citizenship test preparation. In 2003, EGACE received a state grant for the Even Start Family Literacy Program to assist parents in meeting their educational, family and personal goals while learning how to help their children succeed in school. A Migrant Education Even Start program was added in 2005. In 2006 EGACE added California High School Exit Exam preparation classes and high school credit recovery courses were added in 2007 when the state increased EGACE’s funding. In 2009 EGACE was the first adult school in the region to adopt an online curriculum, Apex. In 2010 Custodial and Pharmacy Technician classes where added to EGACE’s Career Technical Education program, supported in part by a state grant from the Employment Development Department (EDD).

 

Most programs described above still exist. Please look for details in: