September, 2009

POWER-PAC Helps City Reach Full Enrollment in Head Start

Parent leaders won a victory in their Early Learning Campaign when they convinced the City of Chicago to pilot a parent-to-parent outreach effort – the Head Start Ambassadors Project – as a way to increase participation of low-income children of color in quality early learning programs.  We created the Head Start Ambassadors Project that employs POWER-PAC leaders reaching out family-to-family in neighborhoods across Chicago, including Altgeld, Austin, Cabrini, Englewood, Humboldt Park and Lawndale. 

POWER-PAC Ambassadors spoke with more than 3000 families and provided them with information and encouragement to get their preschoolers enrolled.  The results are terrific: Head Start in Chicago is at full enrollment, and the grassroots parent-to-parent model is being incorporated into more traditional outreach by social service agency professionals across the city.