Advocacy for Early Childhood through the Georgia Head Start Association

 

 

 Georgia Head Start Association

"What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other?"—George Eliot

The Georgia Head Start Association advocates for children from birth to five years of age. The GHSA provides the families of these children with resources to aid their families in meeting their needs. The GHSA does not have unlimited income. Because of lack of funding, it is a federally funded program that can have a waiting list, shortened day hours, or not year-round (Mongeau, 2016). Lyndon B. Johnson began the Head Start Project in an effort to publically fund education services for children that were living in poverty. When he announced his program in 1964, he stated that

         His advocacy for children came from trying to break the poverty cycle that children were stuck in through no fault of their own. This program, though federally funded, has state branches. The Head Start Association supports positive environments for students to live, learn and thrive. They offer not only early learning centers but also health and family well-being services. By engaging and reaching the whole child and their family, Head Start aims to provide children with the readiness they need to be successful.

Preschool based origins that are publically funded were established to prepare students from low-income housing for kindergarten in the public school setting (Johnson et al., 2019). The Georgia Head Start Association (GHSA) is a non-profit branch of the National Head Start Association. The GHSA's mission is to partner with head start programs within Georgia and enhance their ability to provide children and families with quality services and allow children to receive early learning benefits. Georgia has 31 Head Start and Eary Head Start centers around the state. These locations allow birth through five-year-old children and their families that are low income to receive the benefits of their services. GHSA gives these families and children a "head start" to begin kindergarten with a strong foundation of learning.

The GHSA Mission and Vision Statements are:

"The Mission of the Georgia Head Start Association, a statewide, non-profit organization, is to enhance the capability of local Head Start programs to deliver quality comprehensive services to children and their families."

The Vision of GHSA is that "All Head Start programs will exceed the Head Start Performance Standards." (Georgia Head Start, n.d.)

 

 

 

 

 

                 

                                                            

 

                                                         

Image from Georgia Head Start Association

 

A Board of Directors governs the Georgia Head Start Association. These directors are ranked from executive officer to president. There are also two Vice Presidents, Secretary, Parliamentarian, Treasurer, and Historian, and each position has an assistant. A Region Representative also represents each region of Georgia. When a Georgia family participates in the Georgia Head Start Association, research shows they are 12% less likely to grow up and live in poverty and 29% less likely to receive public assistance as an adult. The GHSA allows children to receive the resources they need to be prepared for elementary school. The program also allows families a place for their children to go so they can go to work and provide for their families. The GHSA does more than educate children and provide them with a safe place to go during the day. The GHSA trains parents to conduct home visits and offers behavioral health treatment. The plethora of resources these families have through GHSA allows the families to be set up for success and eventually break their poverty cycle.

HEAD START'S ACCESSIBILITY AND REACH IN GEORGIA

ü Head Start served 19,907 children

ü Early Head Start funded to serve 4,429 children

ü 1,818 parents received job training

ü 56,994 home visits were conducted

ü 1,876 children received a behavioral health treatment plan

ü 375 Migrant Seasonal children served

ü 7,603 Head Start jobs

ü $236,460,419 in funding (excluding Migrant & Seasonal)

Data provided by: National Head Start Association

 

GHSA partners with national organizations as well as local school systems to educate parents on how to provide their children with a print-rich environment to foster a love for books and reading. This helps to promote kindergarten readiness among these children (Johnson et al., 2019). Together with the National Head Start Association, the GHSA provides an early education program m for children from at-risk backgrounds. This is determined through a Needs-Based Assessment given to the families. Once a family qualifies, they have access to all the resources the GHSA has to offer. Children who attend Head Start perform better cognitively and with social-emotional skills in a kindergarten than children who were at home with a guardian (Zhai et al., 2011). Green et al. (2014) stated that participation in the Head Start program correlated with fewer welfare visits while the child was in elementary school. These are just a few of the positive aspects of the Georgia Head Start Association.

 

Graphic obtained from Georgia Head Start Fact Sheet

The Georgia Head Start Association advocates for early childhood education and equality. By advocating, they bring awareness to the issue of poverty and inequity in the early childhood system. Through their association, they advocate for change to ensure children are given equal opportunities to be successful. The GHSA sets out to promote early educational development as well as monitor the whole child for physical and emotional development. They do this hand in hand with educating parents and providing a safe place for children to learn and play. When governing agencies work together to ensure equity and the health and well-being of children is a shared goal, real progress can be made to break poverty cycles and give children the tools they need to be successful, thriving adults.

References

Facts & Figures. Facts and Figures | Georgia Head Start Association. (n.d.). http://georgiaheadstart.org/about/facts-and-figures/.

Georgia Head Start Association (GHSA). (n.d.). http://www.decal.ga.gov/HeadStart/GHSA.aspx.

Green, B. l., Ayoub, C., Bartlett, J. D., Ende, A. V., Furrer, C. J. (2014). The effect of Early Head Start on child welfare system involvement: A first look at longitudinal child maltreatment outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.044

Johnson, A. D., Finch, J. E., & Phillips, D. A. (2019). Associations between publicly funded preschool and low-income children's kindergarten readiness: The moderating role of child temperament. Developmental Psychology, 55(3), 623–636. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000651

Mongeau. (2016, August 9). Is Head Start a failure? The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/is-head-start-a-failure/

Office of Head Start. (2020, June 23). Administration of Children and Families. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs/about

Zai, F., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Waldfogel, J. (2011). Head Start and urban children's readiness: A birth cohort study in 18 cities. Developing Psychology, 47(1), 134152. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020784