Early Head Start
Early Head Start (EHS) is a federally funded, community-based program for pregnant women and low-income families with infants and toddlers. Its mission is to promote healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, enhance the development of very young children, and promote healthy family functioning.
The specific goals of Early Head Start include the following:
- Enhance children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development
- Enable parents to be better caregivers and teachers to their children
- Help parents meet their own goals, including economic independence.
The Early Head Start program is based on four cornerstones:
- Child Development: All Early Head Start programs must provide the following:
- Early education services in a range of developmentally appropriate settings
- Home-visits, especially for families with newborns
- Parent education and parent-child activities
- Comprehensive health and mental health services
- High quality child care services, provided directly or in collaboration with community child care providers.
- Family Development: Programs seek to empower families by developing goals for themselves and their children. Staff and parents develop individualized family development plans that focus on the child's developmental needs and the family's social and economic needs.
The services Early Head Start provides directly, or through referral include: - Comprehensive health and mental health services
- Adult education, literacy, and job skills training to facilitate family self-sufficiency
- Assistance in obtaining income support, safe housing, or emergency cash
- Transportation to program services
- Support groups, workshops, and on-site training
- Community Building: Programs conduct an assessment of community resources, so they can build a comprehensive network of services and supports for pregnant women and families with young children.
- Staff Development: Our inter-disciplinary approach includes ongoing training, supervision, and mentoring, all of which emphasize relationship-building. Staff development is grounded in established "best practices" in the areas of child and family development, and community building.
