Purpose
To offer a top-quality pre-school education for more than 500 of the highest risk children in Shelby County annually, plus support for their families, completely free of charge.

Description
A child’s development begins in the earliest moments of life, with social and cognitive skills that affect their ability to enter school and succeed. Yet children from many low-income families are often not afforded the same opportunities to develop these skills as other children. Porter-Leath’s Head Start programs — Head Start for preschool children ages 3 to 5 and Early Head Start for children from birth to preschool age — ensure these children develop to the best of their ability and receive all of the building blocks necessary to be successful in school. Porter-Leath Head Start offers a comprehensive combination of quality home-based family services and onsite educational programs completely free of charge.

Services Provided
• Individualized early childhood development resources
• Health and developmental screenings, including speech, hearing, vision and lead exposure
• Medical, dental and mental health services
• Parental involvement and education, including nutritional counseling
• Extended onsite care for working parents
• In-home family support and counseling
• Bilingual programming at the American Way Head Start center

Benefits
• Enhanced school readiness for low-income children
• Guaranteed quality of services through a unique management structure, monitoring, training and content development
• Full range of highly qualified and trained staff comprised of teachers, assistants, family service and health workers and nutritionists
• Transportation to and from onsite centers for qualified participants

History
Early Head Start (EHS) began operations in 1998 as the first and only EHS program in Shelby County. In 2001, Porter-Leath became a delegate provider for the Shelby County Head Start program and opened the Douglass Head Start center. The American Way Head Start center opened the following year.

Other Facts
• Clients qualify based on the child’s age and the family’s zip code and income level.
• Clients are recruited through the media, staff and parent referrals, referrals through community partners, walk-ins and other Porter-Leath programs.
• Early Head Start funds are provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. Head Start funds are provided by Shelby County Head Start. Additional funding for both programs is provided through United Way of the Mid-South and private donations.