Featured Head Start

Head Start of East Orange County
Newburgh, NY

Meet Head Start of East Orange County - our featured Head Start! HSEOC is located in Newburgh, NY and serves over 200 children. This Head Start began their Father Initiative program three years ago. Here's what Raymond Cruz, the Father Initiative Facilitator has to say about the program:

The sessions are very unique and innovative and the program runs from October thru early December, every Wednesdays from 6:30pm -7:30pm. Our attendance averages about 14-18 men per session; Approximately 60 men have graduated from the program since we started. We invite special speakers from community programs to make the session more interesting and to encourage participation. We also invite local community members of vocational and business background to inspire the men to attend.

By providing additional content that's of interest to the dads, HSEOC has been able to create a successful, thriving program! HSEOC serves both English speaking and Spanish speaking fathers using NFI's 24/7 Dad™ and Siempre Papa™ programs.

Northern Panhandle Head Start, Inc.
Wheeling, WV

About the Head Start:
Northern Panhandle Head Start services children ages 0-5 and their families throughout Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties in West Virginia.

About their Father Involvement Program:
The AIM (Active Involvement for Men) group program serves Head Sart and Early Head Start program. It offers montly activities to families and promotes family time, father-child bonding, and positive relationships through informal trainings and behavior modeling.

To provide free activities, Northern Panhandle Head Start collaborates with community businesses and other area agencies.

Father-Friendly Activities
Some of the past activities include:

• Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinics
• Saturday Morning Breakfasts
• Library Story Time Evenings
• Dads and Kids Hockey Night
• Daddy Days

There are special programs that focus on non-custodial fathers, incarcerated fathers, and other significant men that are involved with the children enrolled in Northern Panhandle Head Start.

Northern Panhandle Head Start also distributes a monthly newsletter “Dad’s Zone” to all families enrolled that highlights the accomplishments of fathers in the program, lists upcoming activities, parenting tips, and recipe ideas that are all geared towards men.

Event Idea: All Star Dads Social
In March the AIM group collaborated with the local MIHOW(Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker) program to hold an All Star Dads Social. MIHOW is a grant program from Vanderbilt University, managed by Northern Panhandle Head Start, which provides services to pregnant women and children to age three.

The All Star Dads event focused on the importance of positive and responsible fathers in the lives of children. The fathers and children participated in a diaper changing contest, and received an interactive training in positive fathering.

The fathers also received a special fatherhood shirt that they personalized with their child’s hand and footprints. Families received father–focused door prizes and fatherhood information - like brochures - was distributed.

For More Information
Visit www.npheadstart.org

Alexandria Head Start in Alexandria, VA

To connect fathers to their children, the Alexandria Head Start facilitates a program called "Men About Head Start," which is designed to support fathers in their important role and empower them to be better fathers.

Program Overview
The "Men About Head Start" program helps the Alexandria Head Start reach its goals of getting fathers involved in their programs, and it allows them to recognize and celebrate different cultural heritages within families. Specifically, this program aims to implement strategies that will help dads navigate the challenges of work, family, and community, and to increase the amount of time that fathers are engaged with their children, particularly around educational issues, like literacy

Program Events
Alexandria Head Start keeps things simple with events that would fit easily with any program structure. The program meets once a month and holds a variety of workshops and programs for the fathers in this program. Their events include a Men's Dinner and a Family Reading event.

Workshops
Workshop topics range from Job Preparation and Time Management to a variety of parenting classes, including Father and Daughter Relationships, Men and Their Role in Relationship, and the Importance of Male Involvement.