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.

LCHS is one of six locations in Luzerne County now home to a ‘Little Free Library.’ Members of Leaderships Wilkes-Barre’s team ‘Learning with Books: A Little Free Library Project’ turned old newspaper boxes into free community book exchanges. Students at the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County helped the team freshen up the old newspaper boxes with a new look. Each box is filled with books for children and adults. The idea behind the little free library is for people to take a book or leave a book – whatever they choose. Team members say the little free libraries encourage reading and help bring communities together. In addition to LCHS’s Wilkes-Barre location, the little free libraries can be found at the Lands at Hillside Farms, Shavertown; Napoli’s Pizza, Pittston; Public Square, Wilkes-Barre; Quality Hill Park, Nanticoke and Nucleus Raw Foods, Luzerne.

Children from Luzerne County Head Start (LCHS) welcomed State Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Luzerne to the agency’s Nanticoke center. Rep. Mullery sat down for breakfast with the children and read “Say Something” to the group. He presented each teacher with a copy of the book for their classroom. Following the reading, he also donated several bicycle helmets for children to use in the center’s gymnasium. Rep. Mullery participates in LCHS’s Adopt-A-Classroom program. The program is designed to promote community engagement and strengthen the community’s youth by working together. LCHS is an income-based early childhood education program that provides comprehensive services to pregnant women, children birth to age five, and their families in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties.

The Pennsylvania Head Start Association (PHSA) recently awarded former Luzerne County Head Start (LCHS) student, Asucena Vergara, Wilkes-Barre, with the “PHSA Alumni Scholarship” at its annual conference in State College.  Each year, PHSA recognizes one graduating high school senior in the state of Pennsylvania who can trace his/her academic successes back to the days as a young child in a Head Start classroom.  The $1,000 scholarship award is presented to the applicant who receives the highest score based on a number of factors including letters of reference, biographical sketch, special contributions and education goals.  The scholarship is meant to go toward higher education costs.  Vergara is a senior at Elmer L. Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre who plans to attend Misericordia University in the fall.     

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Dallas, and Lehman–Idetown United Methodist Church, Lehman recently presented Luzerne County Head Start staff with a gift collection to be distributed to Head Start children and their families.  Each spring, members of both congregations purchase gifts for approximately 36 children and their families at the Back Mountain Head Start center, located within St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.  The gifts include items families might need like clothing, shoes or household items.  Staff from Luzerne County Head Start is invited to attend a breakfast at St. Paul’s.  During this breakfast, they are presented with the gift collection to distribute to children and their families.

Ryan Riley, executive director of The Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission, joined by Troy Standish, senior vice president of loan serving operations at Navient, Wilkes-Barre visited children at Luzerne County Head Start’s (LCHS) Beekman Street, Wilkes-Barre center.  Standish was recently appointed by Governor Tom Wolf to serve as a commissioner on the PA Early Learning Investment Commission.  The statewide commission is made up of a network of 58 business leaders who work to improve early childhood education outcomes in communities across Pennsylvania.  LCHS is an income-based early childhood education program that provides comprehensive services to pregnant women, children age birth to five, and their families in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties.