New home-based Head Start is planned for Dundy County

KEARNEY -- Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska will use an expansion grant to start a home-based Head Start program in Dundy County.

Lois Butler, Head Start director at the Mid-Nebraska office in Kearney, said a family educator will be hired in May to provide home-based services to 10 preschool children and their families who meet federal income guidelines.

An eligible family must have a preschool child(ren) who will be three or four by October 15.

Contact Butler at the Kearney office, (308) 865-5694, to refer families, to set up an appointment to fill out an application, or to discuss the office space that will be needed in Benkelman.

Butler said the home-based model uses the family's home as the learning environment. Services are delivered through four strategies: weekly home visits, group socialization activities, focus on parent education and community outreach.

Family educators serve as facilitators, educators and support systems for parents and families, and as an link to the local community.

Basic features of the home-based program depend on:

- Commitment by the staff to the philosophy of parent participation, parents as partners and parents as the prime educators of their children.

- Regular and consistent contact with parents.

- Effective and appropriate information exchange.

- Cultural sensitivity and respect.

- Honest, interpersonal relationships.

Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska has administered programs like Head Start for 35 years. The Head Start has 30 centers in 15 counties in Nebraska and two counties in Kansas.