Community Action Provides Opportunities

Many families come to a Community Action Agency’s Head Start program looking for help for their children, but in the process begin to see the resources available for their entire family. Following is the story of one such person at the Community Action Agency of Columbiana County:

Community Action Makes a Difference in People's Lives

Kim, a client of Ross County Community Action Commission explains how Community Action made a difference in her life:

Community Action Prepares Children for the Future

Many Community Action Agencies offer programs for children to ensure they get the education they need to succeed in the future. One example is Trumbull Community Action Program’s (TCAP) math and science lab for Head Start preschoolers.

Community Action Educates Children

By Al Stabilito, MYCAP’s Director of Communications and Outreach

Many Community Action Agencies offer Head Start pre-school programs, knowing that early childhood education helps to combat poverty. Also started as part of the War on Poverty, Head Start provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families.

Community Action Helps Our Youth

When Chanda, a mother of three, left her husband, she was not sure what to do. A friend told her about the Head Start pre-school program at Hancock Hardin Wyandot Putnam (HHWP) Community Action Commission. “[She told me] how great it was, how welcoming they felt, and how wonderful the teachers were,” Chanda said. It made her decide she wanted that for her children. After doing some research, she realized that while she couldn’t afford other pre-school opportunities for her children, her income qualified her for the Head Start program at HHWP.

Community Action Helps People Get Ahead

By Michelle R. Hopkins, Community Relations Manager, Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency

Two years ago Alexis decided that she wanted her daughter out of a regular day care and into a quality learning environment. She sought out Head Start, a curriculum Alexis knew she could trust, at the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency (CAA). A single mom expecting her second child, Alexis also signed up for Head Start’s Pregnant Moms Program. Unfortunately, hard times hit, Alexis lost her job and was forced to move back home with her mother.

Head Start: Helping Ohio's Youth

In 2012, more than 6 million children under age six lived in poverty in America. Head Start served 1,146,468 children and pregnant women last year. In Ohio, Head Start served 49,702 children. 

Head Start is a national program that promotes the school-readiness of children ages birth to five from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social and emotional development, as well as providing health, nutrition, social services and other services determined to be necessary by family needs assessments. Most Community Action Agencies in Ohio offer Head Start programs, but these programs have been hit hard by the sequestration.

Because of the $405 million in cuts nationally, 57,265 children will lose services and 18,000 staff will suffer job losses or pay cuts. In Ohio, 2,782 fewer children will be served this year and there will be 11,168 fewer days of service provided to the remaining children served. Many teachers will lose their jobs and transportation and other services and supplies will be cut, affecting those who need it most.

Following is the story of how Head Start helped one young boy at the Head Start provided by Lorain County Community Action Agency (LCCAA):

Homeless Mom Gets the Help She Needs

Following is a letter from a mother of three who's children were enrolled in Community Action Wayne/Medina's Head Start and Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) funded programs. It tells of the struggles this family endured and how Community Action helped improve their lives.

Stay-at-Home Mom Improves Life for Her and Her Kids Thanks to Community Action

Charity was a stay-at-home mom with three young children who was feeling frustrated about some of her past decisions and not being able to provide for her family the way she needed to. She knew that she wanted more out of life for her and her children and wanted to be a good example for them.

Child Goes from Unable to Communicate to Top of Kindergarten Class

When Tristan's parents brought him to Kno-Ho-Co-Ashland Community Action Commission for Head Start pre-school classes he was three years old and the staff was unable to understand one word that he tried to speak. He was administered the National Reporting System (NRS) Assessment Test, which is a standardized assessment for Head Start students instituted by the federal government to demonstrate a child's understanding of certain words, to identify letters, recognize geometric shapes and solve simple addition and subtraction problems. Tristan failed the picture naming test because the staff could not understand him. Kno-Ho-Co-Ashland had him tested and he qualified for speech therapy. Together, the speech therapist and Head Start staff would prepare Tristan for kindergarten.