OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2017
Contact
Colneth Smiley
Desk: 617.348.6224
Cell: 617.872.9435
colneth.smiley@bostonabcd.org
ACTION FOR BOSTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
HEAD START & EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN GREATER BOSTON
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR TODDLERS, INFANTS & BABIES
As the season of autumn commences, Action for Boston Community Development continues to accept applications for newborns, babies, toddlers, and children up to age five for Head Start and Early Head Start programs within the Greater Boston and Mystic Valley area. For more than 50 years ABCD Head Start has been a keystone program for ABCD as a gateway to services for the entire family. Apply today!
WHY ABCD HEAD START AND EARLY HEAD START?
From birth to age five, these are the formative years of a child’s life. Give that child the resources needed to not just prepare for kindergarten, but to prepare for life. ABCD Head Start provides gold standard early education to young children and their families in need.
Through Head Start children learn to play, and gain their cognitive and critical thinking skills.
What’s best, parental engagement sets Head Start apart from other early education programs. Each family is assigned a family caseworker ready to assist and lead households to resources that will benefit them. Through Head Start, children receive services including individualized nutrition plans and health screenings. Disability and mental services are also offered to children in need. Other supportive services may include home visits, and specialists for each child and family’s need.
ABCD hosts thirty Head Start sites across Greater Boston with new additions in Malden and the Mystic Valley area. The early education program offers year-round, extended-day programs enabling parents with time to work or further their own education.
From fighting childhood obesity, to involving mother AND fathers, to building school readiness with teaching trained to meet high standards – ABCD Head Start promotes success for children and their families.
THE HISTORY OF HEAD START AND EARLY HEAD START?
Head Start began in the 1960s during the war on poverty and establishment of community action agencies. Since its conception Head Start has been a model early education program with a focus on the comprehensive child and family development. ABCD Head Start serves an average 2,500 children yearly in over thirty sites. It serves an estimated average of 200 low-income children and their families.
“These children are America’s future,” said ABCD President/CEO John Drew. “They deserve the very best in early education and care. Head Start provides that for more than a million poor children and families nationwide.”
“ABCD Head Start has been at the forefront of quality and innovation in early education,” said Yvette Rodriguez, ABCD Vice President, Head Start & Children’s Services. “We have worked to fight childhood obesity, to involve fathers in their children’s education, to build school readiness, to provide opportunities for parents to build better lives and for our teachers to meet high standards.”
WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR HEAD START AND EARLY HEAD START?
Head Start offers free services to residents of the Greater Boston Area and families that meet federal low-income guidelines. Families who receive public assistance or other benefits may also be eligible, as well as families from the immigrant communities.
Early Head Start provides services for pregnant women, babies, and toddlers. Head Start, which is the next level prior to kindergarten, serves children at least three years old as of September 1, 2017.
To learn more or to apply to Early Head Start & Head Start call (617)348-6388 or email HeadStart@Bostonabcd.org.
ABOUT ABCD:
ABCD serves more than 100,000 low-income Boston-area residents through its central offices and a decentralized network of Neighborhood Service Centers (NSCs), Head Start centers, Family Planning sites and Foster Grandparent sites. Programs and affiliations include Fuel Assistance; Head Start; Child Care Services; Child Care Choices of Boston; Education; Career Development; Housing and Homelessness Services; Health Services; Family Planning; Urban College of Boston; University High – an Alternative High School; Ostiguy High School for high school students in recovery; Weatherization; Foster Grandparents; Elder Services; Intergenerational Programs; management of the Combined Federal Campaign, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and City of Boston employee giving campaigns; advocacy and consumer services.
