Purpose The purpose of the Delaware Head Start State Collaboration Project is to serve as a liaison between the regional office, Head Start grantees and state agencies providing services to low-income families.

Mission The mission of the Collaboration Project is to create a visible presence for Head Start at the state level in policymaking, partnerships, initiatives, and decisions that affect low-income children and their families.

Goals

• To coordinate with and support the implementation of Early Success, Delaware's early care and education system;
• To ensure Head Start participation in state level initiatives related to educational opportunities, childcare, inclusion, health, literacy, community services, welfare reform, and homelessness;
• To facilitate the involvement of Head Start in state policies, plans, processes, and decisions affecting the Head Start eligible population and other low-income families related to dental services, mental health services, and services to children with disabilities.

Priority Areas

1. Health Care - Promote access to timely health care services, including general health, oral health, and mental health services
2. Homelessness - Support access to services for children experiencing homelessness through coordination with state and local education agencies (LEAs) implementing McKinney-Vento requirements.
3. Welfare - Encourage and support collaboration with welfare systems (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program)
4. Child Welfare - Improve or enhance coordination with child welfare services, including foster care and child protective services
5. Child Care - Coordinate activities with state child care agencies and child care resource and referral agencies to strengthen partnerships between local Head Start and child care programs to make full-working-day and full-calendar-year child care services available to children
6. Family Literacy - Promote and support state and local connections that enhance family literacy
7. Disabilities - Increase opportunities for children with disabilities
8. Community Services - Promote and support full utilization of relevant community services, including public schools, public libraries, museums, and law enforcement agencies, and promote effective outreach efforts to Head Start-eligible families
9. Education - Facilitate alignment of education curricula and assessments used by Head Start agencies with the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework and, as appropriate, with state early learning standards and kindergarten curricula. Promote and support appropriate curricula for limited English proficient children and expand partnerships with LEAs for coordinated pre-kindergarten and transition to kindergarten services
10. Professional Development - Support Head Start grantees in better accessing professional development opportunities for staff to meet the Head Start degree requirements

Funding Delaware is a Wave III grant, which was funded in 1996. The current federal funding level is $125,000 per annum.

Contact Information
For additional information about the Collaboration Project, please contact:

April Hill-Addison
Head Start State Collaboration Director
Department of Education
Townsend Building
401 Federal St., Suite 2
Dover, DE 19901
Phone: (302) 735-4295
Fax: (302) 739-7645
Email: aaddison@doe.k12.de.us