Luzerne County Head Start’s Pre-K Counts center, located inside Church of Christ Uniting, Kingston, recently received a $250 donation from Community Bank as part of National Good Neighbor Day.  National Good Neighbor Day is celebrated annually on Sept. 28 as a day of gratitude and community building.  LCHS was among several local nonprofits that benefited from this community initiative.  In addition to the donation, a representative from the Wyoming Ave., Kingston branch of Community Bank dropped off school supplies and children’s books for each boy and girl in the classroom. Good Neighbor Day was proclaimed a national day by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 to raise public awareness that good neighbors help achieve human understanding and build strong, thriving communities.

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. (LCHS) will continue to provide its summer learning experience to children, thanks to a golf tournament sponsored by Navient, a leading asset management and business processing services company. The annual event, held at Blue Ridge Trail Golf Club near Mountain Top, raised approximately $28,000 for LCHS’s Jump Start program.  Jump Start is a 4-week-long summer learning experience that offers comprehensive services for 30 eligible 3 and 4-year-old children who will attend LCHS in the fall. 

In addition to the tournament, several businesses provided sponsorship and gift donations for raffle drawings and other prizes.  Since the golf tournament’s inception, Navient has raised approximately $250,000 for LCHS.  Navient Foundation, the company-sponsored philanthropic organization, also awarded an $8,000 grant to help support the program. 

LCHS is an income-based program that provides early childhood education and comprehensive services to pregnant women, children birth to age five, and their families in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties.

Luzerne County Head Start was recently featured in the Times Leader newspaper’s August 2019 special supplement, titled “Valley with a Heart.” The article highlights the history of LCHS, its mission and changes for the 2019-2020 program year.

Luzerne County Head Start would like to thank GWC Warranty in Wilkes-Barre for their generous donation. Thanks to their efforts, more than 30 children will be ready to head back to school this year with brand new backpacks full of school supplies!

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. was recently awarded an increase of $877,752 in state money that will support services for an additional 72 Head Start children.  The Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP) grant provides state funding to Head Start programs to serve preschool-aged children who are living in families at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level.  This additional funding will increase the current number of state-funded Head Start slots from 194 children to 266 children and will allow LCHS to enroll more children in need of services who are currently on a waiting list.  This year, LCHS will also open two new Pre-K Counts classrooms in partnership with Kistler Elementary in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District and Fairview Elementary in the Crestwood School District.  Additionally, a third Head Start classroom will open on the campus of Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke.

LCHS is a state and federal funded program that focuses on the whole family, making sure that parents receive help with a wide range of family needs including housing, employment and parenting education. Approximately 1,200 children from birth to age 5 and women who are pregnant are served by the agency in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties.     

  

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. (LCHS) was recently awarded a one-time grant totaling $78,173 from Moses Taylor Foundation to implement a new strategy that promotes positive behavior in the classroom among preschool-aged children.  The method, known as Teacher-Child Interaction Training-Universal or TCIT-U, is a professional development model designed to strengthen teacher-child relationship skills and increase teachers’ confidence in their ability to manage challenging behaviors in the classroom. 

The pilot teaching program will be applied in eight of the agency’s classrooms during the upcoming school year.  Education and mental health specialists from an Illinois-based company who are trained in this methodology are working with Head Start’s education team to teach the necessary skills needed to apply this universal prevention method in the classroom.  Additionally, LCHS has partnered with a local mental health specialist from the Children’s Service Center in Wilkes-Barre to help make this project a success. 

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. (LCHS) was awarded a donation to help offset the cost of children’s programming expenses for the upcoming school year.  The Seltzer Group, an independent insurance agency in Schuylkill County, donated $250 to LCHS.  The original donation was then matched by the Selective Insurance Group Foundation; a company in New Jersey that supports nonprofit organizations helping to make a difference in the lives of people in their communities.  The checks totaling $500 were presented to LCHS’s executive director, Lynn Evans Biga.  The money will help LCHS to carry out its mission of enhancing the quality of life for low income children and their families in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties. 

Luzerne County Head Start held its annual luncheon to mark its 54^th year of providing opportunities for our community’s most vulnerable children and families.  The event took place May 20 at The Woodlands, Route 315, Wilkes-Barre.   Ed Williams, a Wilkes-Barre native and former Head Start student, who now serves as Vice President and General Counsel at McAllister & Quinn in Philadelphia served as the keynote speaker.   A record number of 20 former Head Start students, who plan to continue their education after high school, were honored with scholarships totaling $19,000 as part of the Luzerne County Head Start Alumni Scholarship program.  To date, LCHS alumni have been awarded 272 scholarships totaling $256,650.  The scholarships are funded by individuals, businesses, and organizations in the community.  LCHS also recognized several community organizations that support our mission including Jennifer Hetro, The Wright Center for Community Health; Care and Concern Ministry; Bill McLaughlin, North Penn Legal Services and KRZ’s Cares for Kids campaign.