History, Goals and Values
Collaboration in Head Start
Collaboration with other community agencies has
always been central to Head Start's mission and service delivery design. Head Start
has never been funded to provide all its mandated services. Collaboration with the
agencies that do provide those services, as well as with other educational, cultural,
and advocacy organizations, is fundamental to delivering high quality Head Start
services.
Probably
the first formal national collaboration was in 1974 with the Medicaid Early and Periodic
Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment Program (EPSDT). Federally, Head Start's commitment
to collaboration has grown. In 1990, the Head Start Bureau of the Department of Health
and Human Services began funding Head Start State Collaboration Offices. Every state,
Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands now has a Collaboration Office.
Agencies
make Head Start the central community institution at the local level. Head Start
State Collaboration Offices work at the State level to bridge Head Start with the
state entities that make decisions, set policy, and fund programs for low income
children and families, i.e., the Head Start target population.
The
State of Illinois funds Head Start programs in Illinois with a total of $10 million
in child care subsidy money through the Department of Human Services. This funding
is for collaboration to provide full day, full year services to Head Start children
and families. Fourteen agencies participate in this program, called Partners in
Care and Education.
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"I am writing this letter
as testimony that the partnership with Two Rivers Head Start & Sycamore School
District is a positive & necessary means to bridge early childhood education
ึ My daughter is a totally blind three year old child that has been integrated into
the system the cooperation of Two Rivers Head Start & Sycamore School District.
[She] is receiving early childhood ึ and special education services that have allowed
her to grow & develop as a child. With very little aid, [she] has learned to
move about the classroom, has had social contact with other children, learned daily
living skills and is receiving daily a firm foundation for learning that will prepare
her for future academic years. ึthe integrated staff work well together. The staff
seems to fully realize that their mission is in providing quality education for the
children that attend the program. The organizational design of the program is so
unique & works so effectively with each person strategically placed to fulfill
a key role. The bottom line is that my child is being equipped with valuable education
tools every day that she attends the program."
Two Rivers Head Start Parent
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