With the summer coming to an end and a new school year in sight, Head Start administrators knocked on doors to find income eligible preschoolers for Head Start school readiness services.
The program recruits families with income at or below the federal poverty guidelines. The door-to-door campaign initiated by Head Start director Socorro Rodriguez targets low-income areas determined to have preschool children who might be eligible for services.
"This is a targeted effort to find children who are most in need of school readiness services," said Rodriguez. "The zip-codes we visited were shown to have a high concentration of below poverty income levels."
Since a majority of Head Start center staff were on summer break, the initiative called on the aide of administrators and support service staff to walk neighborhoods and knock on doors.
"This was an all hands on deck effort," said Rodriguez. "Those of us who were not on summer break rolled up our sleeves and enthusiastically worked in teams to canvass these communities. It became an impromptu team building activity."
The result of the initiative generated more than 450 potentially eligible families.
"The initiative was successful in many ways," said Rodriguez. "The program reached out to families who for whatever reason could not find a way to us. We stepped back in time, left the technology behind and knocked on doors to come face to face with families that data shows are out there."
Head Start is a free child and family development program with a focus on increasing the school readiness and healthy development of young children.
Families who are interested in the program can visit any one of 31 Head Start centers located throughout El Paso and Hudspeth counties. Families also can call the program and schedule an appointment with a Head Start center Family Service Worker. Coming soon is an online pre-application, where families can complete and submit the pre-screening form which will go directly to their Head Start center of choice.