Current News and Archives

Current News

• Announcing the 2010 Head Start Collaboration Special Projects Intern!

  The Special Projects Internship Program was created to nurture the development of a cadre of new leaders in Head Start for North Carolina.  Promising leaders are selected via a competitive statewide process, and are offered a State-level perspective into the operations of the Head Start-State Collaboration Office and other State and federal programs that serve the interests of young children and families. The NC Head Start-State Collaboration Office is situated in the Office of Early Learning – the agency that houses North Carolina’s Pre-k programs, including More at Four, Preschool Exceptional Children, Even Start Family Literacy, and Title I Preschool programs.  Special Projects Interns are chosen from a pool of candidates who demonstrate a history of significant early care and education experiences and strong program and community leadership.  They contribute their skills and perspectives from the field to support State early childhood initiatives and federal priorities. The NC Head Start-State Collaboration Office is pleased to present the 2010 Special Projects Intern:

  2010 Head Start Collaboration Special Projects Intern



Stacy Wolff is currently the Education/Disabilities Coordinator for the Cabarrus County Head Start program.  She has over 5 years experience working with children from birth to 5 in a variety of settings including Early Head Start, Head Start, and public school systems in Maryland, Washington, DC, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.  She earned a Master of Science degree in Child Development and Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College.  Stacy is originally from Boston, MA, but also regards Silver Spring, MD, as her home.  In her current role at Cabarrus County Head Start, she coaches and trains teachers and teacher assistants, and leads efforts to build collaborations between the Head Start program and the school administration.

 

• Office of Head Start Centers of Excellence

  Governor Perdue recently nominated four (4) North Carolina Head Start/Early Head Start grantees to compete for the designation as an Office of Head Start Center of Excellence on the national level.  Duplin County Schools (Linda Smith, Director); Family, Infant and Preschool Program (Sarah Sexton, Director); Johnston-Lee-Harnett Community Action (Shirley Whitley, Director); Wayne Action Group for Economic Solvency, Inc. (Patricia Colon, Director) were the grantees nominated as prospective Office of Head Start Centers of Excellence, based on their implementation of effective, innovative, and targeted approaches to enhance program services for children, families, and staff.

  The grantees are now eligible to submit applications to the Office of Head Start to compete nationally for one of ten designations as a Center of Excellence.  If successful, Centers of Excellence will be awarded $200,000 per year for a five-year period, and will become a demonstration site to other early childhood programs in the State.

• Head Start & Early Head Start Expansion

  The State of North Carolina eagerly looks ahead to the expansion of Head Start and Early Head Start programs, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It is projected that nearly 500 additional children will be served, as a result of Head Start expansion. Even more promising is the projection that North Carolina will double the number of children birth to age 3 and expectant mothers served by Early Head Start through this expansion opportunity! These additional children and expectant mothers will likely be served by existing grantees as well as newly-funded grantees in over half the counties in the State. Services for these additional children and families will begin as early as December 2009.

• E-Rate Eligibility for NC Head Start Programs

  Effective May 28, 2009, all Head Start grantees in North Carolina were made eligible to receive discounts on certain program costs associated with telecommunications and Internet access! The Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund (commonly known as "E-Rate") is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and provides discounts of 90% to Head Start programs for services like local and long-distance calling, high-speed lines, and cellular services.

  The discount benefit is applicable only to the center-based portion of a Head Start grantee’s telecommunications and Internet access costs (i.e. programs serving children age 3 to 5). The soonest that NC Head Start grantees will be able to begin receiving discounts is July 2010. Office of Head Start E-rate consultant Kenny Acklin is available to guide grantees through the enrollment process. Kenny can be contacted via telephone (866.878.6032) or email Erate@HeadStartinfo.org.

• NC Approved Early Childhood Curricula
• Kindergarten Eligibility Birthdate Change and the Impact on Head Start Programs
• NC Head Start Newsletters

updated October 30, 2009

* To view PDF files, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in your web browser. Click the Adobe Acrobat Reader icon to the right to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, then follow the instructions on Adobe's Web site. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free and available for a variety of platforms and languages.