2012 Annual Report - Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation

OACAC PROGRAMS
HEAD START
Head Start and Early Head Start programs provide
comprehensive early childhood and family development
services to children from birth to five years old,
pregnant women and families. Head Start provides
services in the areas of education and early childhood
development; medical, dental and mental health; nutrition;
parental involvement and family support. Our
program has a long tradition of delivering comprehensive
and high quality services designed to foster healthy
development for income eligible children and their
families.
The goal of OACAC Head Start is school readiness.
School readiness for the child includes the developmental
domains of approaches to learning, social-emotional
development, language, literacy, math, science, creative
arts, physical development and health. School readiness
for the family includes becoming engaged in the
child’s education, setting personal and family goals, and
demonstrating for the child that learning is a lifelong
process.
Throughout the year, teaching staff gather assessment
data on children’s development and report at
least 3 times per year. Reported data is aggregated and
analyzed on children’s progress. The analyzed data is
used to target areas of improvements across all areas
of development, areas of improvement for training
and technical assistance, and program improvements
regarding classroom materials, curricula, and/or areas
of emphasis. While children showed gains across all
areas of development, the program identified science
and mathematics as areas in which to provide target
professional development for teachers for the 2012-
2013 program year.
Improving children’s health status is an important
part of preparing children for success in school and
later life. Upon enrollment, only 15% of the enrolled
children were up to date according to the state’s
EPSDT schedule for preventative and primary health
care. However, by the end of the year, 97% of enrolled
children were up to date!
The issue of homelessness for young children
continues to be a concern. During the 2011-2012
program year, 7.5% of the children served experienced
homelessness. Of those 153 children, only 12% of
those families were able to acquire permanent housing
during the program year.
OACAC Head Start provides a range of services to
support families as they move toward self-sufficiency.
During 2011-2012, 826 families were working and 450
were enrolled in job training and/or school. However,
only 474 children received child care assistance.
10
17%
17%
6%
3%
1%
1%
55%
2011-2012 Head Start Budget
55% Salaries
17% Fringe Benefits
17% Other
6% Indirect
3% Contractual
1% Supplies
1% Travel
Head Start Early Head Start
Funded Enrollment 1414 188
Actual Enrollment 1414 188
Total # of Children Served 1736 326
% Eligible by Income 99% 98%
% Enrolled as Over-Income 1% 2%
Medical Home 100% 100%
Dental Homes 100% 100%
"Sunglasses and Hats Day" provided lots of fun and HUGE smiles!
Program Year: September 1 - August 31
Funding Sources: Department of Health and
Human Services; Office of Head Start;
Administration for Children and Families
Policy Council: Policy-making board composed of 20 members:
eleven parents, eight community representatives and one Area
Board of Directors’ representative
Phone: 417-864-3430 Fax: 417-864-3449
.