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Head Start Early Childhood Program

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* Conduct an internet search on one of following: Head Start, Early Head Start, Family Literacy Programs, and Parent Cooperative Nursery Schools. Provide a summation about what you learned about your program and discuss how it relates to and supports the home and community.

* Select one of the following domains of learning and development: cognitive, affective/emotional, physical, or social. Create a three column table and label them home, school, and community.

* List specific examples of how each of the three social settings facilitates children's learning and development in your chosen area.

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Solution Summary

About Head Start
Established in 1965, Head Start promotes school readiness for children, ages three to five, in low-income families by offering educational, nutritional, health, social and other services. Head Start programs promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. The Head Start program serves over 900,000 children and their families residing in lower income households across the nation. The program began in 1965, and its primary mission is that of preparing young children to enter school. Head Start has a long history of success and takes pride in being a national model for child and family development. Traditionally, Head Start served children from 3-5 years of age, but in recent years an Early Head Start program has been created to serve expectant families, infants, and toddlers, thus creating a 0-5 program. NHSA History - Mirroring the history of the Head Start program itself, the National Head Start Association (NHSA) was formed quickly and on a tremendous scale. Like the federal program, the association rapidly became a national success, uniting the members of the Head Start community into a strong voice of Head Start advocacy. A few active Head Start opponents have inaccurately portrayed the recent Head Start Impact Study as being negative to Head Start, and by doing so have unfairly misled a number of fair-minded observers. In actuality, the Study was yet another affirmation of the decades of rigorous peer-reviewed research showing that Head Start works.

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Protecting Our Children
* Conduct an internet search on one of following: Head Start, Early Head Start, Family Literacy Programs, and Parent Cooperative Nursery Schools. Provide a summation about what you learned about your program and discuss how it relates to and supports the home and community.

About Head Start
Established in 1965, Head Start promotes school readiness for children, ages three to five, in low-income families by offering educational, nutritional, health, social and other services. Head Start programs promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. Programs actively engage parents in their children's learning and help them in making progress toward their educational, literacy and employment goals. Significant emphasis is placed on the involvement of parents in the administration of local Head Start programs.
Early Head Start, launched in 1995, provides support to low-income infants, toddlers, pregnant women and their families. EHS programs enhance children's physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development; assist pregnant women to access comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care; support parents' efforts to fulfill their parental roles; and help parents move toward self-sufficiency. Together Head Start and Early Head Start have served tens of millions of children and their families.
Snapshot of Grantees
The Office of Head Start (OHS) provides grants to approximately 1600 local public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services throughout the United States and territories. These programs operate in the way that's best for their communities. Some programs are half day, some are full day, and others home based. Many programs offer a variety of service options, including partnerships with schools, centers and family child care.
? The majority of Head Start grantees are Community Action Agencies or other non-profit entities.
? Nearly a third are government entities (e.g., tribal governments, cities, counties and school systems).
? A small number are for-profit organizations.
? Grantees range from small non-profit agencies directly operating as little as one classroom to a "super grantee" overseeing multiple delegate agencies operating 1,000 classrooms across an entire city.
? One of our smallest programs serves 30 children in two classrooms on the Havasupai reservation on the bottom of the Grand Canyon, only accessible by helicopter or donkey.
? Our largest program is the Los Angeles County Office of Education which serves over 22,000 children in over 400 centers across Los Angeles.
? The average grantee serves 300 children and operates in 4 centers.
Organization
? OHS Reorganization Notice: Federal Register, December 27, 2010
? Organizational Chart
? ACF/OHS Website
Program Services
Early Childhood Development and Health
Head Start's commitment to wellness embraces a comprehensive vision of health for children, families, and staff. The objective of Child Health and Development Services is to ensure that, through collaboration among families, staff, and health professionals, all child health and developmental concerns are identified, and children and families are linked to an ongoing source of continuous, accessible care to meet their basic health needs.
The objective of Education and Early Childhood Development is to provide all children with a safe, nurturing, engaging, enjoyable, and secure learning environment, in order to help them gain the awareness, skills, and confidence necessary to succeed in their present environment, and to deal with later responsibilities in school and in life. Each child is treated as an individual in an inclusive community that values, respects, and responds to diversity. The varied experiences provided by the program support the continuum of children's growth and development, which includes the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of each child.
Family and Community Partnerships
Head Start offers parents opportunities and support for growth, so that they can identify their own strengths, needs and interests, and find their own solutions. The objective of Family Partnerships is to support parents as they identify and meet their own goals, nurture the development of their children in the context of their family and culture, and advocate for communities that are supportive of children and families of all cultures. The building of trusting, collaborative relationships between parents and staff allows them to share with and to learn from one another.
Head Start serves families within the context of the community, and recognizes that many other agencies and groups work with the same families. The objective of Community Partnerships is to ensure that grantee and delegate agencies collaborate with partners in their communities, in order to provide the highest level of services to children and families, to foster the development of a continuum of family centered services, and to advocate for a community that shares responsibility for the healthy development of children and families of all cultures.
Funding
Grants are awarded by the ACF Regional Offices and the Office of Head Start's American Indian - Alaska Native and Migrant and Seasonal Program Branches directly to local public agencies, private organizations, Indian Tribes and school systems for the purpose of operating Head Start programs at the community level.
Head Start Program Factsheets
Find information on budget, enrollment, demographic and program figures for Head Start.
Grants are awarded directly to local public agencies, private non-profit and for-profit organizations, Indian Tribes and school systems by ACF Regional Offices, the Office of Head Start's American Indian-Alaska Native, and Migrant and Seasonal Program Branches for the purpose of operating Head Start programs at the community level. Please view these fact sheets for information on demographics, state allocations and program statistics as well as general information on Head Start enrollment history.
? Fiscal Year 2010
? Fiscal Year 2009
? Fiscal Year 2008
? Fiscal Year 2007
? Fiscal Year 2006
? Fiscal Year 2005
? Fiscal Year 2004
Reports
? 2010 OHS Consolidated Tribal Consultation Report [PDF 375KB]
? 2005 Biennial Report to Congress [PDF 1.63MB]
? 2003 ...

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