Narrative/Profile-Family & Community Partnership-Social Services provides assistance to Family Advocates who are in charge of conducting Home Visits and initiating Individual Family Partnership Agreements. Social Service Coordinator keeps Family Advocates abreast of what is taking place within the community and link them to many valuable resources throughout the community. The Family & Community Partnership Coordinator is constantly networking with other agencies to refer our Head Start families to outside agencies for resources, and share our resources with others.

 

Assessment tools-Family & Community Partnership conduct site visits on an on-going basis for the purpose of on-going monitoring. At the time of a site visit, a Child Record Checklist is completed and discussed with the Site Base Manager and Family Advocate. Together the Family & Community Partnership Coordinators, Site Base Manager, and Family Advocate discuss a plan of action to implement to correct necessary findings. A good working rapport is established between staff members to ensure a smooth work environment is present at all times, and foster a great learning enriched environment. Family & Community Partnership provides guidance and some technical assistance to staff members when needed. Each year the Agency conducts a Self Assessment. The Self Assessment is comprised of Head Start staff, as well as, outside community representatives. This 2003-2004 school year the Good Will Industries, Women’s Shelter, and Beeville Head Start participated in the Family & Community Partnership’s Self Assessment. These outside representatives were able to come within our Head Start Program and assess our program using our assessment tool the Prism. A Community Assessment is also conducted on a yearly basis. This is when we research statistical information, and compare it to the different community agencies that we utilize and collaborate with. During the Community Assessment we are able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of our community.

 

Special activities-Family & Community Partnership is involved with many community functions such as, Weed & Seed, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Parent Involvement Conferences, Emergency Coalition, ARD (Admissions, Review, and Dismissal) Meetings, Policy Council, Project S.T.A.R., Head Start Conferences, C.H.I.P. seminars, Child Staffing, Staff Development Trainings, Disability Coalition, Assessable Communities, Even Start, American Association of University Women (AAUW), Adult Literacy Graduations, Advisory Meetings, etc. Discuss any Advisory, Committee or Boards-Family & Community Partnership host a minimum two Advisory meetings per year. Advisory meetings are usually held in the Spring, and the other in the Fall. The purpose of these meetings is to meet with our Community Partners to discuss any Program Plan Revisions, and any upcoming events that are in the works. Staff members, Community Partners, and Parents are all invited to share their ideas and offer input in the decision making process. These meetings are usually held over the duration of a lunch period, in hopes of not inconveniencing anyone’s busy work schedule. The Family & Community Partnership Coordinator attends Policy Council Meetings on a monthly basis. Policy Council is comprised of parents and staff members and the general public is welcomed to attend. At the Policy Council Meeting issues such as, budget, personnel and administrative issues are discussed, and the non-staff members have the option to share their input.

 

List MOU’s-Just to name a few, Family & Community Partnership has established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Even Start, Consumer Credit, Women’s Shelter, and the Texas Workforce.
Technology usage-The HSFIS System is depended on a great deal to track the percentage of Home Visits and Individual Family Partnership Agreements completed. The HSFIS System enables a wide variety of reports to be generated, and track the progress of our Head Start families. Several quick reference reports can be generated in a short period of time to review a brief summary of goals, strengths, and needs that have been identified by our Head Start families.