News and Events

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New TA Contract Awarded to ICFI

August 2010: ICFI has gotten the Training/Technical Assistance contract for Virginia and all of Region 3 (VA, WV, DE, MD, DC, PA), among other states and regions. This means that familiar faces will continue to be here doing what we have been doing with a couple of new twists. The focus will be targeted to school readiness and classroom quality for Head Start and Early Head Start (not a bad focus). Ann Janney-Schultz and Liana Vega-Hernandez, along with a third person yet to be hired, will comprise the Virginia Head Start T/TA Center.

In the new system, ICFI will be working with individual grantees, as well as continuing work with most of the state groups with whom they have been working all along. Wenda Singer, Maxine McKinney and Ann Janney-Schultz will continue to be the “Head Start Resource Team” for Virginia, working closely on needs assessment, planning and implementing training for Head Start and all of our community partners, and generally trying to share the load and support each other as we work to support our Head Start and Early Head Start programs. The T/TA team will also be working with the new national resource centers, especially the Center on Early Childhood Teaching and Learning and the Early Head Start National Resource Center, to bring the most current evidence-based practices to Head Start teachers to help continually improve child outcomes and the quality of our already fantastic Virginia Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

This is good news for Virginia. This means we will continue to work with person familiar with the strengths and needs of Virginia programs.

"Friend of Head Start" writes online book for "ordinary" people

Doug Burford of Burford Advertising and recipient of Virginia Head Start Association’s first Friend of Head Start award has written an online book that will tug at your heart strings and give you some ideas as well.

18 Ways Ordinary People Can Make the World Better tells the stories of actual ways Doug and Burford Advertising have reached out to organizations -- including Head Start -- to assist them in their mission with extraordinary results.

If you are an ordinary person, check out this book.

Study links poverty to depression among mothers

More than half of babies in poverty are being raised by mothers who show symptoms of mild to severe depression, potentially creating problems in parenting and in child development, according to a new study.

In what was described as the first detailed portrait of its kind, researchers reported that one in nine infants in poverty had a mother with severe depression and that such mothers typically breastfed their children for shorter periods than other mothers who were poor.

Read more about this Urban Institute study.

Virginia Data from KIDS COUNT

Higher Horizons news

Higher Horizons Day Care Center in Falls Church honored current partners during its first annual community partnership luncheon held at noon on Monday June 28, 2010. Read more.

Presentation downloads

The January 13 presentation on multiculturism is available for download.

• multicultural presentation (PPT, 2.8 MB)

Looking for the dental health presentation from the November 2009 Health Institute? It's ready for download.

• dental health presentation (PPT, 8.1 MB, large file)

Head Start Improves Child Health

Temple University researchers announced earlier this week that their national study found that Head Start meets and exceeds the requirements to prevent obesity among at-risk children. Dr. Robert Whitaker, the lead author of this study, asserted, “Early childhood education and childcare programs throughout the nation have traditionally looked to Head Start regulations to set their own standards.” The findings of this study have been published as an article in the December 2009 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Visit to Capitol Hill

In January folks from VAHSA went to DC for a Leadership Institute. A part of that was a visit to the Hill where we met with representatives from Senators Webb and Warner’s offices. Click on the photo below to see more photos from the trip.

Capitol Hill 2010

School Transportation News web site

School Transportation News has launched a new Web site. See it for yourself at www.stnonline.com.

NHSA Conference Call Notes

Summary of Conference Call Regarding NHSA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Appropriation Request. (PDF)  Read more.

Early Head Start Expansion Numbers have been updated!

* New Early Head Start grantee; all have existing HS programs.

That gives us 724 new Early Head Start children in Virginia. Congratulations to all!!

Early Head Start Dental Health

Bright Smiles for Babies: Fluoride Varnish Study of Virginia Early Head Start Children Executive Summary, Summary 2009 (PDF)

New OHS Director

Yvette Sanchez Fuentes has been named to be the Director of the Office of Head Start. Yvette, currently Executive Director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association, has extensive experience at the local, regional and national level, providing services to young children from low income families. Her knowledge and commitment will enable her to help lead ACF’s critically important mission of enriching the quality of early childhood development for our nation’s most vulnerable children.

As the Executive Director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association, Ms. Sanchez Fuentes works with early education services, policies, and resources for migrant and seasonal farm worker children and their families. Prior to joining the Association, Yvette worked for the Education Development Center where she was the Early Childhood Specialist for the International Systems Division and provided technical assistance to projects in Honduras, El Salvador, and Egypt. Yvette has served as a National Head Start Fellow where she provided consultation in literacy, parent education, child care collaborations, and program improvement to Migrant and Seasonal Head Start and other early childhood education programs nationwide. Early in her career, Ms. Sanchez Fuentes managed services for a large migrant and seasonal program for staff development and family child care initiatives. She received her B.A. in Liberal Arts from California State Polytechnic University.

Please welcome Yvette to the ACF family.

Head Start Video

Check out the updated Head Start Video!

Ratings give region's day care centers room for improvement

July 20, 2009 article on Hampton Roads day care centers -- read it on Pilot Online

Recent News

• Myths put Head Start in crossfire. Read the Op-Ed by Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the NHSA.
• VA Gubernatorial Candidates Pledge Significant Investments for Young Children (PDF)
• Head Start students get letter, photo from Obama.

Association Receives Grant from Virginia Tobacco Settlement Funds

The VAHSA has received a grant for $105,400 to implement Al's Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices in three programs in the North Region. Fauquier, Culpeper, and part of Skyline CAP Head Start programs will be able to bring this mental health curriculum to their programs next program year. The grant becomes effective on July 1, 2009 and runs for three years.

Geography Matters

In April 2008 Every Child Matters Education Fund released Geography Matters, Child Well-Being in the States. This report shows wide gaps in key indicators of child well-being from state to state. Read this important report to see how Virginia measures up. Learn more. »

Early Head Start News

Early Head Start programs now have their own web page. Check it out!

VaHSA Health News

The Health Advisory Committee is sharing important information on health issues such as obesity. Check out their new page.

Start Strong/Smart Beginnings

Helping Virginia kids by expanding opportunities for access to pre-K, healthcare and other early childhood markers for success in life. Find out more.