Virgina Avenue Head Start

by Sheila D'Amico

A letter from a Metro reader sent us over to Faith American Lutheran Church, the site of Virginia Avenue Head Start: "I'd like to suggest for your next paper a place many may not know about, but it is a place for children, with much to do...a dayschool, free. Please send someone out to talk to the teachers and coworkers, who are just great and give much help and learning to children."

Ms. Chanchal and Ms. Teresita, as the children call their teachers, showed me around the two classrooms, Virgina Ave. One and Two. Here, preschool age children engage in both self-directed and structured activities. Large newsprint-sized charts with pictures of the activities help the students choose.

Once each week, for both the morning and afternoon sessions, story readers from Oakland Library's "Books for Wider Horizons" come to read.

I met Virginia Ave.'s director, Pamela Adams, at Frank Ogawa Plaza, where she, the teachers, and several parents had taken the children to participate in Head Start day activities during Oakland's "Week of the Young Child." Pamela has been with Virginia Ave. for six years and with the Head Start program itself since 1978. She says she has seen the program change over the years from one primarily geared to socialization and health to, now, one increasingly geared toward language, literacy, and preparation for the big school.

Pamela, along with others involved with Head Start, is concerned with potential changes in the funding mechanism. Currently, this federally funded program receives funds through the Department of Health and Human Services. This arrangement allows the program to have a comprehensive approach to the education of youngsters that includes interaction with the family and help with provision of needed health and social services. The Bush administration proposes that funding be changed to a block grant within the Department of Education.

Carolyn Cornelius is the Family Advocate for Virginia Ave. Head Start. That means her primary responsibility is to work with parents. She echoes Pam's comments on the unique nature of the program's comprehensive approach. "We address the needs of the entire family. With the parents, we do a needs assessment, help with medical (including arranging for needed shots and care), access social services, and make home visits. We stress healthy families, and parent involvement is extensive."

Carolyn holds monthly parent meetings and workshops, with topics most often springing from ideas and issues brought forth by the parents.

Both Carolyn and Pamela spoke of a vision they have involving a church-owned house next door that has recently become vacant and is undergoing renovations. "Our vision is of a full-day Head Start program in that house. It would be Virginia Ave. Three. But that program is still in the dream stage."