Children

Hundreds of poor children in East Harlem are benefiting from Head Start programs, but thousands more in the neighborhood lack the opportunity to participate.

 

In an area in which 44 percent of the residents require some sort of public assistance, according to the city's 2008 community district needs report, some of New York’s poorest families are either unaware of Head Start, one of the nation’s premier preschool social service programs, or unable to take advantage of it.

 

A lack of adequate funding, coupled with the high number of eligible children -- about 3,500 in a 29-block area -- has created a situation in which East Harlem Head Start centers can neither handle the demand nor expand to meet it. At the same time, they are also unable to advertise to families who are eligible for the program.

 

In East Harlem, 12 Head Start centers exist, with a total capacity for about 600 children. More than 3,400 children younger than 5 live below the poverty level and are eligible for Head Start, according to an East Harlem Planning Assessment report.

 

With the December 2007 passage of the "Improving Head Start for School

Readiness Act," which reauthorized the program, the current East Harlem Head Start programs serving the area will be sustained, if not improved.

 

However, the quality of Head Start services, as well as the potential to expand, depends on annual allocations in federal committee appropriations bills. The national Head Start program provides educational and social services including childcare and guidance on  issues such as health and nutrition to economically disadvantaged families. Nonprofit organizations receive funding from the federal government to administer the program.

 

Centers would like to expand and grow, but are unable to, given current resources.

 

"We have a waiting list of maybe 80 or 90," said Stephanie Lee, director of child care at Union Settlement, a nonprofit that provides one-sixth of all child care services in East

Harlem. She said one of the Union Settlement centers would like to relocate to a larger site, but lacked the funding to do so.

 

Moria Cappio, director of Head Start services at the Children's Aid Society, said her organization had had an opportunity to expand by buying a second-floor townhouse above a community center, but was outbid by another potential buyer.

 

"We are definitely underfunded, in terms of providing enough staff development for teachers and dealing with high turnover," said Aurora Solano, educational director for East Harlem Head Start.

 

Solano, like other Head Start administrators in the area, also lamented being unable to advertise services to the many parents who don't avail themselves of Head Start services simply because they don't know they're there.

 

"It's just a matter of informing parents and letting the community know that we're here," said Solano.

 

Despite the struggles, Head Start administrators could not emphasize enough the benefits of the program to children and parents alike.

 

“Children are being prepared for kindergarten and put on par with the rest of their classmates," said Cappio. "But even more so, parents learn how to be an advocate for their families through this program. It is the most important piece of the program and it’s a great gift."  Cappio works with many Mexican parents, whose children are American citizens but are unfamiliar with the parent-involvement model of education in the United States.

 

A study from the New York Journal of Social Sciences published this July found that children receive short-term benefits from Head Start in vocabulary, spelling and letter identification. And a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that Head Start also leads to long-term improvements, including more years of education, higher earnings and less involvement in crime. "It's crucial to have this kind of program for the children and provide a foundation for children to actually succeed," said Solano.

 

Rosa Rodriguez, a single parent who raised three boys, all of whom participated in Head Start, said the program got her more involved in the classroom.

 

She attributes her children’s success to their involvement in Head Start. One is now in college, one has graduated, and one is in high school. Rodriguez now works as an assistant teacher at Head Start at Children’s Aid Society.

 

"After birth, education is where life begins," she said. "It's a beautiful program."