Advocacy Topics and Interview

I found this assignment to be both interesting and informative.  Since I am completing my internships this quarter at my place of employment I thought that this would be an easy interview and I would know immediatly what my topic was going to be; I was incorrect.  I chose to speak with two different positions within our Head Start program; the first being D.L. who is our Family Service Worker and is primarily responsible for enrollment, all health requirements being met and kept current, and any family issues that may arise (difficulty paying bills, parenting issues, locating housing, etc).  The second person is new to the Head Start program but has been in the Early Childhood Education field for over eighteen years.  S.H. is the new site administrator over the county I live in and oversees the daily operations of two Head Start programs.  S.H. has her Masters in Early Childhood Education Administration, her Bachelors in Early Childhood Education and has just recenlty ended a teaching/intern leader with a local community college when she took over the position with our program.  I was excited to hear what her ideas and concerns were in this field.

When I met with D.L. I expected his answers to be the most needs to focus around the families.  This was pretty much correct; he sees the impact that all family issues have on childrens development and ability to function day to day.  He feels that some of the areas of high need in our community are lack of family support (from people in their lives), lack of parents own education or negative educational experiences, no parenting programs within our small community, parent involvement or "engagement" with the children, and adult priorities that overshadow children.  I was so excited to hear that he wants to bolster and support the interactions that the parents in our program have with the classroom staff as well as in the community.  He is new to his role this school year as well but was with our program for the past two years in various roles.  The fact that he is not only willing but is committed to continuing the efforts as a team only shows that the families in our community are going to have more support than they have ever had.

When I met with S.H. I could see that her thinking wheels were turning and she is so excited about everything she is learning.  As I stated, she has been in the Early Childhood Education field for quite some time but she is new to Head Start.  I love that she has been in the instructor role for an internship program because she understands everything I am going through right now and is so supportive of whatever I need to do.  Her goal is to help see that all three of us lead teachers finish our degree's; which will be accomplished with all of us graduating this June.  She had so many ideas and suggestions that it was hard to keep up with her but as I sat and listened I could see one of her biggest goals for the children in our community is to advertise and support the Head Start program.  Two years ago my center went from a two classroom building with full enrollment to a one full time and one half day classroom.  Last year we lost the  half time classroom and I have been on edge that they will cut my building completely.  One thing that is keeping us running is that we are the only childhood program in the closests 3 small towns (we are a small rural community), which covers approximately a 20 mile radius.  She has already began this process by meeting with the local county paper and discussing having weekly articles included with the other school listings.  She wants there to be weekly examples of what we do with the children; family participation events, field trips, classroom activities, and collaborations.  One of the big boosters right now is our new collaboration with the local University (Virginia Tech) and the Honors program.  We will have 6-7 interns/volunteers a day come to our county and split up amongst the three classrooms in our county.  They have all committed to a four year contract and they will be helping support our programs through various fund raisers and community awareness projects.  This is going to be exciting!

Other needs that she has dealt with in her experience in the classroom as well as an administrator is parent involvement, meeting developmental needs of all the children enrolled (individualization), providing healthy meals/nutrition, and ways to support families through the referral, testing, results, and IEP process.  She is learning that with the Head Start program there are many things in place that are addressing each of those areas and she is excited to continue to grow with her comfort as well as how to continue to support those collaborations.

After rereading my notes and thinking about what my advocacy role and paper I want to continue looking into the role and impact Head Start has.  I know I feel it daily when I go into work and interact with the children but to put it out to the community that may have never heard of us or does not fully understand that we provide more than just "baby-sitting".  In continuing the goal of this paper I can easily address 3 other areas that were brought up by both D.L. and S.H.; 1) parent involvement/engagement, 2)health/nutrition, and 3)developmental needs and supports.

Some questions that I have for you all are:
1) If you do not work for a Head Start program - have you ever heard of Head Start?  Do you know what the vision is for Head Start?

2) Does any of your programs or internship sites utilize curriculum and if so what are they?

3) How are the families supported in your program?  Is there much parent engagement/interaction other than just at drop off and pick up times.

4)Are there any specific questions you would like to find out about Head Start in general or my specific program?