2012 Annual Report Midcoast Maine Community Action Head Start Program

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2 2012 Annual Report Midcoast Maine Community Action Head Start Program Challenges: This year Head Start Programs across the State of Maine faced an unprecedented cut in state funding. MMCA Head Start worked hard to develop a budget that allowed us to continue delivering effective programming and to maintain matching in-kind funds required by federal contracts. Our program suffered a loss of $300,000 which forced us to close one center, Northern Lincoln County, for the coming year. Sacrifices were made in order to keep other centers open and to keep as much availability of services to children and families as possible. We looked hard at our systems, made very difficult decisions and are ready to move ahead in the coming year. We also had many wonderful accomplishments in the last year. Our Federal review 2012 marked the year of the triennial federal monitoring or federal review. We were successfully reviewed during the first week in April of Any non- compliance issues, which were minimal, have been addressed. Our systems were described as well intact. Our teaching staff met or exceeded expectations for best practice in the CLASS observations. Our work in the area of nutrition was cited as a program strength. We are receiving national attention for the inspiring program that has emerged from collaboration with a local farm and the Hannaford Supermarket Guiding Stars Chef. We thank the John T. Gorman Foundation for believing in sustainable wellness and our work in helping families understand nutrition from farm to preschool Our Professional Staff At Midcoast Maine Community Action Head Start program we have a rich level of professional resources for children and families. The management team that supports staff and families includes a Nutritionist, a Registered Nurse, an MS Ed, two Licensed Clinical Social Workers, a seasoned pre-k teacher, and a PhD. In addition we have highly qualified teaching, home visiting and social service staff. Head Start Teachers and Home Visitors received 45 hours of training over the program year. The training supported teachers in implementing the Teaching Strategies Gold assessment system, as well as maintaining high quality education opportunities for children based on CSEFEL principles and the CLASS dimensions. Additional onsite technical support was also provided in every classroom and to each home visitor by the management team. The 2012 Federal Review found that MMCA teachers were met or exceeded federal requirements for each of the CLASS dimensions. MMCA Head Start and Child Development Services staff collaborated to support the 43% of Head Start children and 25% of Early Head Start children receiving special education services during the program year.

3 Head Start Case Managers meet or exceed the professional requirement for social service Staff Head Start Home Visitors and Early Head Start teachers participated in the PIWI (Parents Interacting With Infants) training to reinforce parent engagement as the child s first teacher Nutrition Staff are all Serve-Safe qualified. School Readiness Our teaching staff use Teaching Strategies Gold to do ongoing assessment of children s progress throughout the year. They received a week long training and on-going support from management staff. In the school year we used TSG throughout the entire program for the first time. Here are the data for our children entering kindergarten in Indicators demonstrate that they are school ready and eager to learn! TSG Data for HS students entering Kindergarten fall 2012: Social-Emotional: 90% of students met or exceeded widely held Physical Development Gross Motor: 95% of students met or exceeded widely held developmental expectations by the end of their Head Start program year. Physical Development Fine Motor: 97% of students met or exceeded widely held developmental expectations by the end of their Head Start program year. Language Development: 89% of students met or exceeded widely held Cognitive Development: 94% of students met or exceeded widely held Literacy Development: 96% of students met or exceeded widely held Mathematics Development: 86% of students met or exceeded widely held Reaching Out to Families Midcoast Maine Community Action (MMCA) Head Start serves the whole family. We honor parents as the primary educators of their children. Anything we can do to support the Head Start family is going to have benefits for the Head Start child. Our Family

4 Service and EHS Home Visiting staff offer families an opportunity to identify their strengths, needs and interests, and then work with them to accomplish their goals. As we acknowledge the uniqueness of each child, we also acknowledge and support the uniqueness of each family and its culture. We provide a range of opportunities for family members to become involved in Head Start and their child s education, including visiting or volunteering in classrooms, participating in parent meetings, socializations, Read With Me literacy activities and Parent Policy Council. We believe that parent engagement is vital to the design and management of all levels of our program operations. Our Case Management and Home Visiting staff do a remarkable job of reaching out to our clients. The table below demonstrates some statistics of their hard work Case Management and Home Visiting Referral Services Type of service Number of families receiving service through Head Start referrals Parenting and health education 273 Crisis intervention* 164 Family Support** 84 Housing Assistance (subsidies, repairs, 85 utilities, etc.) Mental Health 87 Job training and adult education 122 *Crisis intervention includes meeting immediate needs such as food, clothing or shelter **Family support includes assistance to families of incarcerated individuals/ substance abuse /child abuse and neglect/ domestic violence Data from the programs indicate that case management services can improve a family s circumstances even in a very difficult economy. In this school year, we served a total of 233 families. Of those families, 131 (56%) were two-parent families, and 102 (44%) were one-parent families. Of the two-parent families, the number in which at least one parent was employed: Start of year 114 (87%) End of year 118 (91%) an increase of 4 % Of the one-parent families, the number in which that parent was employed: Start of year 36 (35%) End of year 57 (55%) an increase of 20% Of the two-parent families, the number in which at least one parent was in school or training: Start of year 22 (17%) End of year 32 (24%) an increase of 7% Of the one-parent families, the number in school or training: Start of year 21 (21%) End of year 30 (29%) an increase of 8%

5 Of all the families, the number in which the highest level of education was less than high school grad or GED: Start of year 21 (9%) End of year 16 (7%) a decrease of 2% Of all the families, the number in which the highest level of education was high school grad or GED: Start of year 104 (45%) End of year 94 (40%) an decrease of 5% Of all the families, the number in which the highest level of education was some college or advanced training: Start of year 99 (42%) End of year 113 (48%) an increase of 12% Zero to Five Head Start and Transitions MMCA Head Start has developed a seamless program for ages 0-5. Staff work with families to ensure that children and parents are supported through transitions from Early Head Start to Head Start and from Head Start to Kindergarten. 87% of the children who were enrolled in Early Head Start transitioned to Head Start Classrooms for preschool. We have also successfully partnered with two school unions to offer Head Start options to children entering Pre-K programs. Health and Nutrition Healthy children learn best. At Midcoast Maine Community Action Head Start we assist families to identify a continuous, accessible source of health and dental care that is ongoing after the child leaves Head Start. Parents have the long term responsibility for their child s health care. It is essential they are engaged in completing routine scheduled preventive exams and all treatment recommendations. We strive to complete the requirements within designated timelines. However we are sensitive to the barriers preventing some families from completing requirements. We work with the families to assist them in overcoming these barriers and individualize plans to complete requirements. Medical Home and Services Number of children at enrollment Number of all children who are Number of children at end of enrollment year

6 up-to-date on a schedule of age-appropriate preventive and primary health care according to the relevant state's EPSDT schedule for well child care Number of children with continuous, accessible dental care provided by a dentist Early Head Start Number of all children who are up-to-date on a schedule of age-appropriate preventive and primary health care according to the relevant state's EPSDT schedule for well child care Number of children with continuous, accessible dental care provided by a dentist Welcome to Wellness: Sustainable Nutrition at Morris Farm Farm to Table: In 2012 we are building toward the vision of sustainable wellness with our families. Through a grant from the John T Gorham Foundation we were able to connect with fascinating and helpful partners. These include the wonderful folks at the non-profit Morris Farm in Wiscasset, Master gardeners and Chef Erin Dow of the Hannaford Guiding Stars program. Morris Farm is helping us to help families get closer

7 to the food they eat by actually growing it. We also harvest various crops and distribute these foods to our six centers. Chef Erin Dow worked closely with Vanessa Whiting, our staff nutritionist, to produce simple healthy and cost effective menus for our Head Start Centers. Erin is the founder of Hannaford s Guiding Star Nutrition Guide. Her collaboration with Vanessa has been a tremendous asset to our program. The children eat healthy foods prepared simply, and we will be publishing a cook book for families that will include sustainable, healthy and affordable recipes to try at home. Chef Erin works with students to understand the science of good nutrition.

8 A young farmer takes a rest at Morris Farm.