Press release and staff report
news@wbcowqel.com
North Central State College will hold an open house to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Child Development Center. Current and former students, parents and community leaders are invited to the event from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 4.
Since opening in 1994, the Child Development Center has served the needs of thousands of children, students and community members. A number of activities are planned for the event, including: face painting, crafts, building tours, music, snacks, etc.
Recently, the Child Development Center received a 5-year grant to continue working with children through the Early Head Start program in the amount of $2,374,245. The multi-year grant will provide staffing and resources for up to 40 students each year. Services can be provided to mothers even before their babies are born, and children are eligible to receive services until they reach three years of age.
Child and family development are embodied by the core values of Early Head Start:
Establish a supportive learning environment for children, parents and staff in which the processes of enhancing awareness, refining skills and increasing understanding are valued and promoted.
Recognize that members of the Head Start community—children, families and staff—have roots in many cultures. Head Start families and staff work together as a team to effectively promote respectful, sensitive and proactive approaches to diversity.
Understand that the empowerment of families occurs when program governance responsibility is shared by families, governing bodies and staff; and when the ideas and opinions of families are heard and respected.
Embrace a comprehensive vision of health for children and families and staff which ensures that basic health needs are met, encourages practices that prevent future illnesses and injuries, and promote positive, culturally relevant health behaviors that enhance life-long well-being.
Respect the importance of all aspects of an individual’s development, including social, emotional, cognitive and physical growth.
Build a community in which each child and adult is treated as an individual while, at the same time, a sense of belonging to the group is reinforced.
Foster a relationship with the larger community, so that families and staff are respected and served by a network of community agencies in partnership with one another.
Develop a continuum of care, education and services that allow stable, uninterrupted support to families and children during and after their Head Start experience.
Early Head Start focuses on empowering non-traditional low-income student-parents and community-parents to overcome barriers to successfully achieving academic success and economic self-efficiency through an approach requiring the collaboration of existing community resources to provide services in a cost-effective manner. The coordination of campus and community-based services creates a system that has a “central point of entry” in which families can access services and benefit from the strengths of all agencies involved.