This fall Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) Head Start received an outpouring of community support for two programs designed to enhance children’s learning and offer diverse educational experiences both at school and at home.

On October 23, 2007, Southern Illinois University Carbondale kicked-off the 13th annual “A Book in Every Home” campaign. The goal of the drive is to collect enough books so each of the 433 children enrolled in SIUC Head Start will receive at least one book to take home. Erika Lowery, wife of men’s basketball coach Chris Lowery, chaired the campaign for the third year. The drive, which ended December 7, 2007, was a great success. Through both cash donations and donations of books, each child was able to take home four books of their very own.

As another attempt to promote literacy, SIUC Head Start hosted its annual Community Reading Week December 3-7, 2007. Community Reading Week emphasizes local leaders and their contributions to the community by inviting them to visit Head Start classrooms and read to the children. This year’s event featured readers who demonstrate leadership in the education of young children. Readers included school principals and superintendents, early childhood professionals, special education directors and preschool program administrators. "The Head Start Community Reading Week increases awareness of our program and the children enjoy having special guests in their classrooms," said Cathy J. Reed, director of SIUC Head Start. "It provides the children with meaningful literacy activity and demonstrates community involvement to them. The community readers also enjoy their time with the preschool children."

Both these events enhanced SIUC Head Start’s literacy and community involvement efforts. They provided children with a rich learning experience that will transition from school to home while increasing community awareness of the valuable services provided by SIUC Head Start.

SIUC Head Start staff has been busy sharing information with colleagues at state and national Head Start conferences. Toni Kay Wright, SIUC Head Start’s Health/Nutrition Coordinator has been selected to present a professional development session at the National Head Start Association’s 35th Annual Training Conference on using motivational interviewing techniques to manage childhood overweight.

Program staff Jan Brown, Child Development Coordinator, Mary Sikorski, Program Systems Operations Coordinator and Joyce Guy, Collaborations/Training Specialist were selected to present a session on cultural diversity at the Illinois Head Start Association Conference in Springfield held March 2008.

Cathy Reed, Program Director and Shannon Pargin, Family/Community Partnerships Coordinator participated in a panel presentation entitled Making Partnerships Count for Fathers and Families at the Region V Head Start Conference in October 2007, which was held in St. Paul, Minnesota.

These presentations allow SIUC Head Start staff to share strategies with other Head Start personnel and to also attend presentations by staff from other programs as well as experts in the field to get new ideas that benefit children and families served by Head Start.

On December 12, 2007, President Bush signed Public Law 110-134 “Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007” reauthorizing the federally-funded Head Start program.

The law contains significant revisions to the Head Start Act and authorizes Head Start through September 30, 2012. Head Start programs nationwide are in the process of familiarizing themselves with the new act and how it will impact their daily operations.
Some of the changes can be adopted by programs immediately and some will require clarification and guidance from the Office of Head Start.

There may be some unforeseen consequences to the Illinois minimum wage increase that took effect July 1, 2008. The increase raised the minimum wage in Illinois from $6.50 to $7.50 per hour. Further increases are planned until the minimum wage as follows:

July 1, 2008 $7.75
July 1, 2009 $8.00
July 1, 2010 $8.25

Many SIUC Head Start families report that the minimum wage increase has had a detrimental effect on their overall household finances. The increase has decreased their food stamp allocations and increased their child care co-payments and rent for subsidized housing.
Families reported they have attempted unsuccessfully to refuse the wage increase.

Most of the supportive programs that assist low income families, like food stamps, have income guidelines that are set federally and do not quickly adjust to changes taking place at a state, regional or local level. Awareness and advocacy are the keys to ensuring the needs of children are being met.

The 2008 annual SIUC Head Start Parent Event was the most successful yet. The event was held Friday, April 4, 2008 at SIUC Head Start’s Carbondale Center.

The theme for this year’s event was Kids Learn & Grow and was structured as a mini-conference for parents. The evening featured four workshops from which parents could choose two. The workshops focused on various aspects of child development and family life, such as nutrition/family meals, physical activity in small spaces, working with schools and parenting skills.

The feedback from parents was excellent; those who came really enjoyed the event. We would like to thank our community partners who contributed to the event.

The SIUC Head Start program recently received an Early Childhood Caries Planning grant form the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Division of Oral Health.

The purpose of the grant is twofold: 1) to assess the status of oral health in maternal and child health programs in our communities and, 2) to plan appropriate interventions to assure that all maternal and child health populations are touched by oral health through one of the following:

• Education, screening, and exams
• Referrals and case management into oral health care

Head Start is inviting community agencies to participate in the planning meetings and aid in developing an Executive Summary on the state of early childhood caries in local maternal and child health programs and to share this summary with area dentists and family physicians.

On February 28, 2008, SIUC Head Start hosted a public event for fathers and mothers of young children. The event, Fathers Are Important, prompted discussion, challenged beliefs and shared statistics regarding fatherlessness in the United States. Fathers who attended also received suggestions for activities they could do and ways they could relate with their young children.

The workshop was developed out of a direct request from the SIUC Head Start Male Advisory Panel who indicated information was needed for the general public about the importance of fathers in children’s lives. They also requested information about things they could do with their young children.

The speaker, Jeff Wieneke from Barrington, Illinois, is a father, counselor, trainer and life coach. He has provided training to many Head Start parents and staff regarding the importance of fathers in the lives of young children.

Based on the feedback, the event had a real impact on those attending. One Head Start father who attended said “I have to make some changes in how I’ve been doing things.”

One of the goals of Head Start programs nationwide is to promote the importance of both the female and male perspective in a child’s life.

There may be some unforeseen consequences to the Illinois minimum wage increase that took effect July 1, 2008. The increase raised the minimum wage in Illinois from $6.50 to $7.50 per hour. Further increases are planned until the minimum wage as follows:

July 1, 2008 $7.75
July 1, 2009 $8.00
July 1, 2010 $8.25

Many SIUC Head Start families report that the minimum wage increase has had a detrimental effect on their overall household finances. The increase has decreased their food stamp allocations and increased their child care co-payments and rent for subsidized housing.
Families reported they have attempted unsuccessfully to refuse the wage increase.

Most of the supportive programs that assist low income families, like food stamps, have income guidelines that are set federally and do not quickly adjust to changes taking place at a state, regional or local level. Awareness and advocacy are the keys to ensuring the needs of children are being met.

The SIUC Head Start Kindergarten Transition Committee met recently to discuss kindergarten readiness skills children need when transitioning from Head Start to public school. The committee began in October 2006 to ensure on-going communication, define school readiness and facilitate continuity of educational services between SIUC Head Start, state funded at-risk pre-kindergarten programs and public school districts within the service area. Each district appointed a contact person to attend future meetings and to facilitate follow up as needed.

Achievements of the committee have been formal Interagency Agreements with school districts and Pre-K programs; enhanced relationships/ communication between all programs; identified materials needing to be shared in transition files; increased school personnel attending Head Start parent meetings; and defined local school readiness skills.