The San Bernardino native was looking forward to staying at home with her young son while at the same time earning money.

"I'm going to be useful for something," Loera said. She added that she was happy to provide child care for other working women, something she sees a need for in her community.

Loera moved one step closer to achieving her dream Friday, when she and 60 other women received certificates of completion during the first graduation ceremony for participants in the Libreria del Pueblo's Quality Child Care Project.

The project, which is funded by the Children and Family Commission for San Bernardino County, helps Hispanic women become licensed child-care providers by providing them with the education needed for licensing.

Increasing the number of Hispanic women who can provide licensed child care is important, said project coordinator Rosa Martha Zarate, because it eases the shortage of child-care providers in the Hispanic community and provides a source of income for the women.

The Hispanic community, as well as the Asian community, is severely lacking in qualified and licensed child-care providers, according to Andrea Baines, program director for the High Desert Family Day Care Association.

Program coordinators believed they could ease this shortage by educating and licensing women within the communities that needed more child-care services, Zarate said.

"We can now serve our own children in our own communities," Zarate told the crowd of graduates and well-wishers. "Who better than ourselves to provide that?"

To graduate, and to apply for the state child-care license, program participants were required to take 10 classes. The three-hour classes offered instruction in a variety of areas, from child-developmental stages to the writing of a contract.

Classes were designed and selected so that upon completion, the women not only would be well-trained in caring for children but also would know how to run a business, said CPR instructor Yolanda Garcia.

Clutching her certificate of completion, Esmeralda Beltron of San Bernardino outlined her plans for the future.

"I'm looking forward to opening my own child-care center and taking good care of kids," she said proudly.

Reach Elena Arnold at (909) 890-4444 or earnold@pe.com