Our Services
The citywide ABCD Head Start program is Boston’s primary source for a comprehensive, holistic, family intervention program for low-income, pre-school children and their families. All Head Start and Early Head Start children receive education, health, special education, dental, mental health, social, and nutritional services. Parents also have access to special programs, such as literacy and substance abuse prevention and treatment, and education and training opportunities that enable families to move into the economic mainstream.
Head Start’s approach to child development and education is comprehensive, including the child, family, and community. The program helps children develop social competence by being designed to:
- Be developmentally and linguistically appropriate
- Be inclusive of children with disabilities
- Integrate a comprehensive array of services into the general classroom curriculum
- Provide an environment of acceptance that supports and respects gender, culture, language, ethnicity, and family composition
- Provide a balanced program of child-initiated and adult-directed activities, including individual and small group activities.
In addition to our wide range of free services offered to qualifying children and their families, ABCD Head Start also offers additional services to parents who may not be eligible for free care, but who can pay to receive supplementary care. These full-day and full-year programs include:
Childcare Services
ABCD Child Care Services operates within the Head Start program to provide full-day, full-year childcare to help meet the needs of families struggling to fulfill welfare reform work requirements. Funding to achieve the goals of Child Care Services Program comes from several sources, including: Community Partnerships, childcare vouchers, and income eligible contracts through the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care.
Community Partnerships for Children
ABCD Head Start has been a major partner in the Massachusetts Community Partnerships for Children program. In addition to the Community Partnership Council with Boston Public Schools, ABCD Head Start is a recipient of its own Community Partnerships grant (CP CARES) with a focus on at-risk children. The ABCD CP CARES grant provides new and extended day classrooms focusing on developmentally and culturally appropriate learning environments and services for at risk children and their families.
Specialized Care for Children in Need
ABCD Head Start strives to stabilize the lives of homeless children and those children living in extreme need, in order to ensure that they are receiving access to educational opportunities and comprehensive care. The Head Start for Homeless Children initiative, which began with a short-term grant, now receives ongoing federal funding to provide comprehensive Head Start services to homeless preschool children and their families. Children are integrated into classes at the South End Head Start program. The Homeless program includes intensive case management services, a strong mental health component, and linkage with ABCD's extensive support programs in housing, literacy, employment and training, and health. It also provides referrals to relevant community agencies.
Additional Services for the Whole Community
At ABCD Head Start, we are not only committed to serving low-income children, but also their parents and other family members, as well as people from the local community. These programs include services aimed at helping teen parents, pregnant women, and low-income adults in need of educational assistance and professional development training services. We strive to assist the whole person, the whole family, and the whole community, in order to help the people we serve achieve the highest quality of life possible and contribute to the neighborhoods in which they live.
