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During the Thursday morning meeting of the Pulaski County Community Network, representatives from area Head Starts announced that enrollment is down and there is space available in most of the Head Starts in the county.
Head Start is a nationally funded program that is intended to help prepare children for kindergarten through social training and learning basics such as writing a child's name or learning letters and numbers.
Head Start normally has a waiting list of children to fill available slots as children move out of the area or stop attending for other reasons, however, this year Dixon, Richland and Waynesville are seeing spaces go unfilled or no children on the waiting lists.
Funding was cut for Head Start programs during this school year and large centers like Waynesville, Richland, and Rolla no longer run buses. Program administrators fear the lack of buses may be part of the problem. In an effort to help alleviate that as an issue, Richland will run a bus again beginning next week.
Eighty percent of Head Start's funding comes from the federal government, but they are expected to receive the other 20 percent through donations and volunteer time.
For every hour a volunteer spends time at a Head Start doing things like reading to the children or helping with something center staff requires, that Head Start receives a little over $10 of in-kind money from the federal government.
Head Start centers can also receive their 20 percent from donations of money and items such as the ones on Waynesville Head Start's wish list like books, new musical instruments of all kinds, balls, wagons, pre-school pop-up soccer net, new tricycles, a shed to store outdoor toys, hula hoops, potato sacks, playground wall for climbing and help building a garden which includes volunteer time, seeds, containers and tools.
Area Head Starts would like the community to know that children who were age three before July 31, 2010 are welcome to apply for enrollment.
The program is income based, but that is not the only factor that goes into determining a child's eligibility and people are encouraged to apply.
In order to register a child for Head Start, interested parents should call and make an appointment with their local center and bring a shot record, birth certificate and proof of income to the appointment.
During the Thursday morning meeting of the Pulaski County Community Network, representatives from area Head Starts announced that enrollment is down and there is space available in most of the Head Starts in the county.
Head Start is a nationally funded program that is intended to help prepare children for kindergarten through social training and learning basics such as writing a child's name or learning letters and numbers.
Head Start normally has a waiting list of children to fill available slots as children move out of the area or stop attending for other reasons, however, this year Dixon, Richland and Waynesville are seeing spaces go unfilled or no children on the waiting lists.
Funding was cut for Head Start programs during this school year and large centers like Waynesville, Richland, and Rolla no longer run buses. Program administrators fear the lack of buses may be part of the problem. In an effort to help alleviate that as an issue, Richland will run a bus again beginning next week.
Eighty percent of Head Start's funding comes from the federal government, but they are expected to receive the other 20 percent through donations and volunteer time.
For every hour a volunteer spends time at a Head Start doing things like reading to the children or helping with something center staff requires, that Head Start receives a little over $10 of in-kind money from the federal government.
Head Start centers can also receive their 20 percent from donations of money and items such as the ones on Waynesville Head Start's wish list like books, new musical instruments of all kinds, balls, wagons, pre-school pop-up soccer net, new tricycles, a shed to store outdoor toys, hula hoops, potato sacks, playground wall for climbing and help building a garden which includes volunteer time, seeds, containers and tools.
Area Head Starts would like the community to know that children who were age three before July 31, 2010 are welcome to apply for enrollment.
The program is income based, but that is not the only factor that goes into determining a child's eligibility and people are encouraged to apply.
In order to register a child for Head Start, interested parents should call and make an appointment with their local center and bring a shot record, birth certificate and proof of income to the appointment.
