Toni joined the Y team knowing the Head Start program's focus on early childhood education and parent involvement would provide an opportunity for her to use her skills.Family, Education, & Health Services
Family Services
Each center has a Family Advocate, who works one-on-one with the parents to find out each family’s needs and create a plan for how to meet them. We link parents to community resources, such as job assistance programs, educational opportunities, housing and utilities assistance, counseling, health and dental resources. Trainings and workshops for parents are held at our centers on a regular basis, on topics related to health, child development and parenting. We are here not only for the child, but for the whole family.
Education Services
Our education curriculum ensures that each child will be ready to enter Kindergarten. Starting with the safe and nurturing environment given to an infant in the Early Head Start centers, all the way to transitioning to Kindergarten, we focus on each child’s individual strengths and needs. Our classroom curriculum includes literacy and activities in reading, writing, math, science, arts and nurtures each child’s social, emotional and physical well being.
Health Services
Children receive regular vision, hearing, dental, physical, mental health and developmental screenings. We inform parents of the results, and if necessary, help them access additional services if a child has special health concerns, from one of our staff or from our many community health partners. In classroom daily activities, children learn good health habits, including tooth brushing, hand washing, exercising and eating healthy snacks and meals.
