Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman staff

The Greater Boston YMCA is launching an early educator apprenticeship program with a $1 million donation from Rhode Island-based Citizens and additional money from the Eastern Bank foundation.

The bank’s Massachusetts market president, Lisa Murray, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced the gift along with YMCA officials and Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Lauren Jones at an event in Dorchester Tuesday.

Citizens’ donation will also help boost wages for 120 teachers at the Greater Boston Y, the bank said.

The Y will be using part of Citizens’ donation, along with funding from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and Eastern Bank Foundation to launch a 45-person, two-year apprenticeship program aimed at increasing the ranks of early childhood educators at a time when the state faces a shortage and childcare is in high demand. Apprentices will also complete a child growth and development course run by Fisher College in Brookline.

The program’s initial cohort of 14 apprentices has already begun work as assistant teachers in early education programs in Chinatown, East Boston and Roxbury after receiving 40 hours of training.

“The YMCA of Greater Boston’s ECE Apprenticeship Academy is providing an innovative solution to our current teacher shortage by creating new pathways for prospective early childcare providers to gain training while still making an income,” Murray said in a statement. “By eliminating the common barriers, this program is helping expand access to the quality, affordable early childcare education that is essential for families in Greater Boston to thrive.”