Family and Community Partnerships

Head Start/Early Head Start recognizes that parents are their children’s primary teachers and advocates. Our Family Advocates strive to build strong relationships with families that support family well-being, strong relationships between parents and their children and ongoing learning and development for both parents and children. We support families and children throughout their Head Start experience, from the initial application to the children’s transition to Kindergarten.

Parent Participation in the Program

Parents are encouraged to participate in activities with their children in classrooms and on field trips, as well as in their homes.  Parents are welcomed into our centers and classrooms at any time during operation of the program by completing and maintaining and current volunteer application on file. Family Engagement Coordinators assist parents in the development of a wide variety of center activities and events appealing to families, including events and activities specifically designed to encourage the participation of fathers.

Family Assessment and Goal-Setting

Parents are offered the opportunity to set individualized family goals with their Family Advocate.  Individualized goals are selected by parents, and they are assisted in meeting the goals by program staff and by community agencies. We maintain partnership agreements with community agencies to enable the program to offer extensive services and to offer parents assistance in meeting their goals. 

Parent Training

We offer parent the opportunity to attend trainings on a wide variety of subjects including:

• Child Development/Education
• Medical/Dental Health
• Behavior Management   
• Financial Planning
• Parent Rights & Responsibilities in the Public School
• First Aid/CPR
• Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention

Parents are asked for input on training topics and additional trainings are offered as requested.