ANNOUNCEMENTS

The National Head Start Association 2003 Awards and Scholarships

Parent of the Year

Tammy Bond
Absaroka Head Start
Worland, Wyoming

With 1,140 hours of volunteer service to her program, Tammy Bond chairs the Parent Group and the Policy Council and is the parent representative to the Wyoming Head Start Association. “I want my children to see their mother grow educationally and feel good about herself. I know education is important, “says Tammy who returned to school with the help of scholarships and hard work. Not only did she graduate with an Associate’s Degree in Science in Business Administration, Tammy and her husband had their third child three months before graduation. Tammy was elected president of ACES (Adults Continuing Education Students) and nominated for the Outstanding Full-time Nontraditional Student Award.

Beating the Odds

Shawnee Fortner
Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Council
Youngstown, Ohio

This past year alone, Shawnee Fortner volunteered 273 hours in her head start program, received her driver’s license, found a job, bought a car, enrolled in college and earned two A’s and two B’s, paid her own rent and bills, opened a savings account and Roth IRA, and found time to spend with her children. Shawnee’s difficult past, rather than haunt her, has led her to vow that life will be better for her children. She has beat an addiction, left an abusive relationship, and is pursuing a nursing career. Not only that, Shawnee is involving her mother as well as a Head Start grandparent volunteer.

Administrator of the Year - Head Start Director

Cornelia Kane
ABCD Head Start,
Boston, Massachusetts

From her earliest work as a teacher of special education children in the 1960s to her leadership of the ABCD Head Start Program in Region I, Connie was committed to quality education. In the early 70s, she designed, implemented, and coordinated individualized programs for preschool handicapped children. Under her leadership as vice president of ABCD Head Start and Children’s Services, Head Start grew to serve more than 2,400 children in 25 neighborhood-based programs and 570 staff. Early Head Start opened three sites with 186 infants/toddlers/and pregnant women. Through her initiative, collaboration with the Community Partnerships for Children allowed most of the ABCD Head Start Centers to offer full-year, full-day care to over 700 children. Connie supported development of the Good Guys program to encourage male involvement in their children’s lives. And while the education staff have long had a CDA program, Connie was determined that the social service staff have parallel opportunities. She successfully supported the development of a Family Service Credentialing program that, like the ABCD CDA program, is run in conjunction with the Urban College of Boston and helps staff move up the career ladder while receiving college credit toward degrees. Despite a life-threatening illness, Connie continued to support, nurture, and lead her staff from her hospital bed. She was a source of inspiration to all who knew her.

Teacher of the Year

Frenchrist Jackson
Darlington County Community Action Agency Head Start
Hartsville, South Carolina

Frenchrist is a supervisor/early childhood teacher with the Darlington County Community Action Agency, which serves 428 children and families in seven centers. Her daily planning considers the individual needs of each child’s intellectual, physical, social, and emotional growth. A role model to others, she takes advantage of every conference and child development training she can and encouraged a number of program teachers to pursue CDAs and AA degrees. A tracking system monitored how well the children in her program performed compared to children from other childcare systems. Frenchrist’s children received 98 percent on the CSAB (Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery) test and all rated in the 90th percentile. This dedicated teacher works effortlessly with parents and her community and uses the talents of each to enrich the experiences of both.

Humanitarian of the Year

Humility of Mary Health Partners
Youngstown Area Community Action Council Head Start
Youngstown, Ohio

Humility of Mary Health Partners, a region of Catholic Healthcare Partners, is the largest health system in Ohio and the seventh largest not-for-profit health care system in the United States. HM Health Partners has provided hearing and speech services to the Youngstown Area Community Action Council Head Start for the past 15 years. During 2000, HMHP dedicated nearly $15.6 million to the community’s benefit. By 2001, that total grew to $18.6 million. The St. Elizabeth hearing and Speech Center provides an average of $60,000 worth of volunteer (in-kind) services yearly. At the end of the 2001-2002 school year, 92 percent of the children involved showed improvement in their speech. HMHP also partnered with the Y.A.C.A.C. Head Start program in a Lead Prevention Project for an area that ranks as one of the highest in Ohio in terms of lead poisoning. The St. Elizabeth Medical-Dental and Lead Poison Prevention services include training for Head Start parents and staff amounting to in-kind services worth more than $4,000 a year. The HMHP mobile clinic, which is staffed by a physician, nurse, and phlebotomist (for lead screenings), provides medical care and screens to more than 1,000 patients per year and visits two Head Start programs a month. As a result of the partnership between the HMHP mobile clinic personnel and Head Start staff, children without school physicals at the start of the 2001-2002 school year dropped from 40 percent to a little more than two percent. The Safety Net Dental Clinic and Mobil Dental Clinic, Smile Station, saw more than 75 children over a two day period, treating the children and educating their parents. HMHP’s actions reflect their core values of compassion, excellence, human dignity, justice, the sacredness of life, and service.

Margaret M. Coughlin Award - Head Start Coordinator of Disability Services

Pamela Fox
Ruth Walerstein, Palm Beach County Head Start, West Palm Beach, Florida

Ruth Walerstein’s dramatically improved the quality of services to Head Start children and families through collaborative efforts with the LEA/Child Find (Local Education Agency). With a colleague, Ruth developed a streamlined process for identifying special needs children in Head Start and revised the contract with the LEA to ensure that the LEA paid for evaluations and services to Head Start-eligible children. Since then, the time from referral to LEA/Child Find has been cut in half. Ruth also was instrumental in seeing the Foster Grandparent Program become a part of the program, and serves on the Foster Grandparent Program Advisory Council. Ruth also holds the distinction of being a clown! Following a professional clown class, where she selected her persona as a “happy” clown, Ruth began volunteering at community events. Today, she puts smiles on the faces of children and adults alike.

Corporate Award

Greenville SAFE KIDS Coalition
Ayers State Technical College, Cheaha Regional Head Start, Talladega, Alabama

In 1999, Ayers State Technical College formed a partnership with Talladega Clay Randolph Coosa Head Start to promote a quality Early Childhood Development Program. The goal was to make sure that needy families had access to a comprehensive ECD program that would allow children to learn in a safe, nurturing environment. Head Start services would be offered in a newly renovated facility with two classrooms, a modern kitchen, and a play area. For low-income parents, the objective was to provide training to empower them as their children’s primary educators. Another objective was to offer management and leadership classes for Head Start staff and parents. ASTC’s director of Training and Business Industry joined the policy council as a community representative. He also joined the fatherhood program, secured scholarships for Head Start fathers, and helped parents register for basic education. GED and college classes for parents and staff were held on site with CEUs and college credit awarded. ASTC expanded its program to serve Even Start and day care. ASTC staff volunteer hours have an approximate value of $280,000 for three years. ASTC President Edward Meadows and his staff helped ensure that Head Start remains in the community and continues to deliver high quality services.

Father of the Year Award

Jeffrey Scott
Marcellus Hall, Martin Luther King, Jr. Early Head Start, Baltimore, Maryland

Marcellus Hall is raising his 3-year-old grandson, Floyd, as a single parent. Marcellus says, “I knew I had to do the best for him.” When Floyd was referred to the Martin Luther King Early Head Start program and diagnosed with special needs, Marcellus made sure he attended school, neat, clean, and ready to learn and made sure Floyd kept all of his appointments for speech therapy and special instruction. The EHS program helped Floyd with his social skills and other developmental needs and helped Marcellus, too. By his own admission, Marcellus is quiet and not a “joiner.” However, he devoted himself to parenting in a whole new way. He became a member of the Policy Council, was a regular at father involvement meetings, volunteered in the classroom and on field trips, and read to the children at the center’s literacy workshops. Because of his dedication to Floyd and to Head Start, the center has plans to offer a Grandparent Support Group. Marcellus was active in the Dollar Per Child campaign, allowing Floyd’s center to boast that they had collected the most money of the centers involved. For his service to all of the children he works with and his dedication to Head Start, he was named Martin Luther King, Jr. Early Head Start Parent of the Year.

Family Literacy Project Award

Wabash Area Development Inc. Head Start/Early Head Start, Enfield, Illinois

Wabash Area Development Inc. Head Start/Early Head Start’s WE CARE literacy initiative (We Cuddle and Read Everyday) program involves intergenerational activities that include children’s immediate and extended families. WADI serves nearly 497 children and families in rural Illinois. Since the beginning of the program year, WE CARE tracked 2,546 EHS reading activities and 10,232 Head Start activities. For parents, the program’s literacy training leads to self-sufficiency. Parents are given opportunities to attend HeadsUp! Reading and earn college credit. Through FACTS (Family and Community Training Sites) the program has computer learning centers in all seven counties it serves. Families are encouraged to visit together. The Policy Council, realizing that parents need monetary support as they enter college or trade school, established two yearly $500 scholarships. Home visits offer important literacy opportunities. The home visit option requires a cooking experience each month. This is an ideal time to read recipes, ingredients on boxes and cans, and provides a learning experience in a natural environment. Pregnant mothers are encouraged to read to their unborn child. Families make books, write letters to other family members, and start journals.

Staff Award - Parent Involvement Professional

Milagros Belgodere
Cynthia White, Parents in Community Action Inc, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cindy has been helping Head Start parents for decades. She helped develop PICA’s 20-year-old Parent Training Projects to provide parents job opportunities and work experience. She engineered the agency’s response to the court-ordered “The Choice is Yours” program, which permits low-income families to enroll their children in highly-sought-after schools and arranged school tours for 800 parents of children entering kindergarten. At PICA’s annual health fair, Cindy’s work with the District Court paid off when together they made a legal component available to parents giving parents an opportunity to clear up petty fines; reconcile name changes; and access information about domestic violence services, Drug Court, and Criminal Court. Fair attendance doubled. As Director of Social Services and Parent Involvement Cindy added “My Career Planner” to the Individual Family Partnership Agreement to make it easier for parents to enter the work force, and she developed five life-skills workshops for PICA’s New Lease on Life program, a program that enhances PICA’s services to homeless Head Start families. These workshops are open to all Head Start families.

The Phyllis J. Jones Memorial Scholarship

Renee Skau
Bobbie Jean Prevost, Hays Head Start, Hays, Kansas

Bobbie Prevost’s happy memory of her Head Start experience makes her want to ensure other children have a similar experience. Head Start helped her family through difficult times and influenced her decision to become a Head Start volunteer. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education Degree at Fort Hays State University and plans to enter a master’s degree program upon graduation. For the past three years, Bobbie financed her education through loans and programs designed to help low-income families. Bobbie is expecting her first baby in October. She says The Phyllis J. Jones Memorial Scholarship will help her to invest in one less loan and focus on today rather than tomorrow’s debts.

The Phyllis J. Jones Memorial Scholarship

Thea Thim
Erik Janas, Guernsey Early Childhood Center, Guernsey, Wyoming

From the National Honor Society, to the Student Council; from all-state football to band, Erik Janas, excels. He’s a volunteer coach for the k-6th grade basketball program and a member of his church’s youth group. Erik’s dream is to become an airline pilot. He’ll attend the University of North Dakota to study commercial aviation. His interest in engineering and strong science background will hold him in good stead in his chosen field.

Ann Phipps Memorial Scholarship for Head Start Parents

Orly Maor
Cheryl Erickson, CSC Head Start, Toledo, Oregon

Cheryl Erickson’s experience on the Head Start Policy Council and as a volunteer in the community with taught her she had much to offer. She organized a non-profit organization to raise awareness on domestic violence, school violence, drunk driving and car safety. Cheryl plans to become a paralegal so that she can help others navigate in the court system. The Ann Phipps Memorial Scholarship will help her do that.

Ann Phipps Memorial Scholarship for Head Start Parents

Michele Anne Speltz
Bernardina Arias, Crookston Family Service Center, Crookston, Minnesota

For 15 years, Bernardina Arias migrated from Texas to Minnesota to work in the fields. This is not the kind of life she wants for her children. Her decision to become a teacher was influenced by Head Start and a year spent with Americorps as a volunteer kindergarten teacher’s aide. Bernie plans to make Crookston her home, and since there is a shortage of Spanish-speaking teachers, her contribution as a bilingual teacher will be an important one. Bernie will earn her bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota.

Eugenia Boggus Leadership Award

Bettina Calloway-White
Dora Jones, Cheaha Regional Head Start, Talladega, Alabama

Under Dora’s leadership, the Cheaha Regional Head Start offers 40-hour in-service training, staff development plans for all employees, and incentives to recognize and foster quality. The program conducts pre-employment background checks and drug screenings as well as random screenings. Cheaha Regional Head Start has 50 written agreements to provide and expand services to other child care programs and through Dora’s management, the program boasts rich relationships with local business partners. All classrooms and offices have computer systems, and on-line networking capabilities make it possible to receive the HeadsUp! Network. All centers are NAEYC accredited or in the process of accreditation. Quality enhancement improvements are demonstrated through full-day, full-year services and increased parent involvement. Dora serves on advisory boards, civic organizations, and as a consultant for Ayers State Technical College teaching Leadership for Upper Management.

Fatherhood Program Award

Community Action Programs Inter City
Parents in Community Action Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Three management-level staff coordinate Parents in Community Action’s male involvement programming and activities. PICA offers fathers support and opportunities to become involved on leadership committees, and this past year had two fathers in executive committee positions. Always self-funded, PICA increased funding to permit co-coordinators to attend training and increase male activities and events. Human Resources policies promote male employment opportunities for parents who complete the agency’s parent training programs. Fathers, who most often take advantage of the opportunity to earn a commercial driver’s license through the Agency’s Transportation Training Program, receive on-the-job, credential-level training. And staff members attend male-involvement activities because they’ve become friends and mentors to the fathers, and all PICA staff must master male-involvement competency requirements.

Support Staff of the Year - Technology Specialist

Jolene Zimmerman
Deborah Buchanan, YWCA Saint Louis Head Start, Saint Louis, Missouri

As Information Technology Administrator for the largest Head Start/Early Head Start program in Region VII, Deborah provides leadership and vision to advance the agency’s information systems infrastructure empowering key staff to use critical data and information in managing program operations. She keeps the program on the cutting edge of IT systems and procedures and oversaw the introduction of the ChildPlus database management system. Deborah ensures that the system serves the needs of an agency that has grown from serving several hundred to more than 2,500 Head Start and Early Head Start children. Through her efforts and knowledge of hardware and software systems, the program is positioned to become part of the YWCA’s Wide-area Network. This will make it possible to connect the program’s various remote sites into a seamless network for enhanced communication and information sharing allowing the Head Start program to become part of the agency-wide intranet.

Alliance for Youth

Justin Moody, D.D.S.
Robert Moore, D.D.S, Community Partnership for Child Development, Colorado Springs, Colorado

For 20 years, Robert Moore has been an active volunteer with the CPCD oral health program. As a pediatric dentist in private practice, Dr. Moore accepted the Head Start fee schedule and provided services for the many children who were referred to him. After retiring, he continued to support the CPCD oral health program by attending “One Stop Shop” clinics to provide free dental screens for enrolling Head Start children. Not only is he respectful of parents’ opinions and very gentle with his patients, Dr. Moore puts them at ease — even getting down on the floor with one special needs child who refused to sit in the chair. Because he’s always been such a staunch supporter of Head Start, CPCD was able to participate in a pilot program that is a trust fund administered by the Colorado Springs Dental Society. The fund provides dental treatment for the uninsured siblings of enrolled Head Start children.

Visual Learning Award

Absaroka Head Start
Wateree Community Actions Inc. Head Start, Sumter, South Carolina

Wateree Community Actions Inc. Head Start has a variety of visual-learning activities including Jump Start Read and Let’s Go Read. Both focus on building reading and thinking skills through active exploration. Teachers use conversation, stories, songs, and poems along with pictures and props. In science, visual-learning is introduced by cause and effect relationships, for example, planting a seed and watching as it grows into a plant. Children produce drawings, paintings, and other art creations in a visual-learning art center Local artists visit to share experiences and show that there are many forms of art besides painting and drawing. In math, teachers design visual-learning activities to seek solutions to concrete problems; construct with blocks; and measure sand, water, or ingredients for cooking. In dramatic play, children work with hands-on visual-learning materials, such as dishes, play foods, dolls, and dress-up clothes. In language, they label art to reinforce vocabulary, make puppets and picture dictionaries to go along with stories. Through the Parent/Child Home Connection Activity, parents write stories with their children. The community is involved by having community representatives read to the children, and teaching staff and children have a pajama read-in, where staff and children wear pajamas and staff read stories.

2nd Place Youth in Need Head Start and Early Head Start, Wentzville, Missouri

Youth in Need Head Start and Early Head Start serves 20 3- 5-year-olds (about 25 percent of them Spanish-speaking). Visual-learning techniques are used throughout the center. Photographs of each child with their name are displayed; by year’s end 75 percent of children recognize all of the other students’ names in print. Each child has their own journal to document ideas and interests. When the children decided they needed a new door in the center’s home-living area, they undertook a yearlong project to research doors in their neighborhood; draw ones they liked in their journals; design, (and with the help of volunteers) construct, install, and decorate their favorite; and hold a dedication ceremony. Because of the children’s interest in chickens, The Chickadee Project was born. Chickadee (a Beanie Baby chick) has his own travel bag, his journal, two books about his chicken friends (one in English and the other in Spanish), and a camera to take pictures of his adventures. Every Friday, Chickadee chooses a child to go home with for the weekend. Parents and children write in Chickadee’s journal and take photos of his escapades with his friends. On Monday, the child shares his or her family’s adventures. Chickadee has also gone on vacation with children and staff. He’s been to California, Hawaii, Mexico, and Canada and spent nearly 600 hours involving parents and their children in his adventures.

3rd Place Absaroka Head Start, Worland, Wyoming

Absaroka Head Start families work on Family Boards all year and post photos that tell their family’s unique story. Absaroka’s teachers carry the concept of the picture book one step further by taking a photo of each child, having the child draw a picture based on the photo, and having the child tell what they like best about themselves as their teacher acts as scribe. The program’s visuals are also displayed in the community and used on local television for recruitment purposes. The pictures help tell the story of Absaroka Head Start for a community that wants to know more.

Award of Excellence - Promoting Oral Health Practices

Palm Beach County Head Start/Early Head Start
Absaroka Head Start, Worland, Wyoming

Absaroka Head Start encompasses 25,000 square miles over seven counties and provides dental and health services to 319 children in 10 rural communities. The program makes sure all children have a health screening at the beginning of the year that includes an examination by a dentist. One hundred percent of parents accompany their children, and more than 10 dentists donate their time throughout the year. Wyoming has only four pediatric dentists, which means that families must often travel hundreds of miles for treatment, but the program finds resources to pay for expenses, and dentists often cover or absorb the cost of the service if it goes above the estimated cost. The Bright Smiles, Bright Futures curriculum enables teachers to include positive dental practices in the classroom on a daily basis. Children listen to music from the accompanying audio cassette while they brush their teeth in a group setting. They are brushing better and having fun while doing it; it takes only two minutes instead of 20-30; there is better supervision; and safety is considered. Children bring toothbrushes, parent brochures, glow-in-the-dark stickers, Home Brush charts, and toothpaste home with them.

Reverend Willard L. Clayton Memorial Scholarship for Head Start Parent

Ruth Calderon, South Central Head Start, Twin Falls, Idaho

After coming to the United States from Peru, Ruth Calderon says, “I was determined to learn English and have a career leading to a better future.” Four years ago she returned to school, earned her Early Childhood Education Associate degree, and her national CDA credential. Ruth used her newly-acquired language skills to help start a bilingual/multicultural program in the preschool lab classroom, selected materials, planned lessons, and provided resources for parents. Ruth plans to use the Reverend Willard L. Clayton Memorial Scholarship to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education at the College of Southern Idaho. She wants to continue her education in the Bilingual Elementary Program which she says helps overcome a “culture wall.”