CMCCAA Head Start Process of Change -Dana James

History, Structure & Culture

Head Start originated in 1964 as a part of President Johnson’s declaration of War of Poverty

The program was established in order to meet the needs of underprivileged preschool-aged children

Designed to break the cycle of poverty by providing children of low-income families a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs

Progressed from an 8 week demonstration program to a full day, year round program

History, Structure & Culture

Head Start is a division of The Department of Health & Human Services and is funded through grant programs

Ran through local agencies, such as Community Action programs but is monitored by the Office of the Administration for Children and Families Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC) through 12 regional offices

My local Head Start is classified into Region 4 which is based out of Atlanta, GA

Clarksville-Montgomery County Community Action Agency (CMCCAA) administers my local Head Start Program

–CMCCAA Head Start Philosophy

“Staff must be qualified, nurtured, encouraged and rewarded as they enhance their skills and educational levels to provide

the quality services deserved by families and their children. Inherent to the

philosophy is the determination to be an agent for change within the community, to serve as advocates and liaisons for the low-

Income. To strive to ensue that programs and services address the real needs of the community in a planned, orderly, efficient,

effective and professional manner”

Growth & ChangeSince starting CMCCAA Head Start, the program as evolved from 2 small centers with 4 total classrooms to 7 centers with a total of 21 classrooms

In 2011, CMCCAA Head Start recognized the need for more classrooms in order to serve more families

This lead to a purchase of a larger building that combined 2 centers (5 classrooms) which allowed for an additional 4 classrooms serving 80 more families

Growth & ChangeLots of initiative was taken by management staff in an effort to prevent a resistance to change

Managers stepped in to help their employees with their daily tasks during the transition since there was such an unusual load while the moving process occurred

More staff was hired to prevent turnover that could happen when larger operational needs occur

Lunch was provided the staff the first week during the transitional phase into the new center

These actions taken by management staff kept the overall moral of the employees up and helped them to remain positive during the change

With this change and merging of 2 centers came lots of challenges and bumps in the road

Two major problem areas came from the logistics of the move and the assignment of new roles at the new location

The maintenance department in charge of moving the 2 centers into the new location were not time-efficient, which cause a delay in opening the center for the 2012 school year

New roles had to be assigned in order to smoothly operate and accommodate a much larger center

Growth & ChangeThe overall support from the management staff helped to keep a positive attitude from the majority of the staff members

When a problem arose, they were quick to address the issue in a timely manner

Staffing issues were addressed

The biggest problem came from the maintenance department falling behind on their deadline to be moved into the new facility

Fostering InnovationThe leadership at CMCCAA Head Start has a great outlook at making necessary changes and being innovative

A change was needed to better serve the community and they sought out a way to address this need

Leaders support their staff and encourage them in a positive manner

CMCCAA Head Start Family Service Specialist said “My managers did everything possible to support us during this major change and I appreciated their help”

ReferencesCMCCAA. Helping People, Changing Lives. Head Start Program, 2012. http://www.cmccaa.com/headstart.html. Accessed 13 Aug. 2016.

National Head Start Association. Mission, Vision, History, 2016. http://www.nhsa.org/about-us/mission-vision-history#. Accessed 12 Aug. 2016.

Office of Head Start. An Office of the Administration for Children and Families. About Us, 2015. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/about. Accessed 13 Aug. 2016.