Eye on LSSI, Winter 2007 ( Download PDF of entire publication)

They help out in the classroom and act as chaperones for the monthly field trips. They tell stories and work with children on classroom projects. They work behind-the-scenes, too, helping out in the office and serving on the Parent Policy Committee, providing input on the type of education being offered to their children, as well as staffing decisions. They are the parents of Head Start students.

“Parent volunteers are vital to our [Head Start] program in so many areas,” says Doris Holden, site director at North Austin Head Start in Chicago, a program of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI), and one of the agency’s six Head Start sites.

“Parents do a lot,” agrees Fessie Verrett-McChristian, LSSI’s parent involvement social services coordinator. “Parents helped make up our bylaws. All policies and procedures are voted on by the parents through the Parent Policy Committee. And the budget must be approved by [parents]. They have input on our programming, education, even menus.” (Students receive meals and snacks at each site.)

Parent volunteers also recruit new Head Start families and children, by talking with neighbors and people at work, and passing out flyers. “We also depend on them to do surveys [needed for NAEYC (National Association of the Education for Young Children)],” Holden says.

‘… a safe place for children to be’

“[Head Start] is needed in our community to help children to develop,” says Annie Robertson, a parent, grandparent and great grandparent of children who have attended LSSI’s North Austin site. It’s needed “to help prepare them for kindergarten and first grade. Because we have so many underprivileged children and families, young mothers need a place where it’s safe for their children to be,” she adds.

“I started [volunteering] 20 years ago with my first child — Christopher — coming,” Annie says, trying to remember the names of family members who have attended classes there. “After Christopher, it was Myesha. How many grandkids, I can’t even remember. My son Jonathan, grandson Josh, and then my grandbaby Darolyn and now Alana. I think that’s it.”

Annie, who will turn 60 next year, is an active volunteer at North Austin. She is the chairperson of the Parent Policy Committee and LSSI’s delegate to Chicago’s Citywide Parent Policy Council for Head Start. She says, “Whenever they need me, they call me. Whatever’s available, I enjoy.”

Providing extra hands

“We need the parents as volunteers,” says Willie Mae Haden, a teacher’s assistant at North Austin and a parent of children who attend or have attended Head Start there. “[Having volunteers] allows us to be able to tell stories and do projects, go on field trips, have extra goodies to pass out with meals. Some help out with nap time, too,” she adds.

Haden, who has worked at North Austin for five years, currently has a daughter in the program. She volunteered from the first time one of her children attended the site. “We have an open door policy,” she says. “[Parents] are welcome [to volunteer] any time.”

Parent involvement is one of the “preferred standards” of Head Start, but it is completely voluntary, says Verrett-McChristian. A lot of the parents work, so they don’t have the time to get involved as much as they would like. However, she says that whenever the children have a special activity or are performing, the parents pack the sites to watch and support their children.

“Volunteers are great for supporting teachers and [doing such things as] working one-on-one with special needs children,” says Carol Endemann, associate executive director of LSSI’s Children’s Community Services, adding that that LSSI’s Head Start sites are always looking for volunteers, parents and non-parents alike.

For more information on LSSI’s Head Start, contact Carol Endemann at 847/635-4494.

About Head Start …

More than 23 million children have been enrolled in Head Start, since the national program began in 1965. Head Start promotes school readiness for economically disadvantaged children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services for enrolled children and families. A special focus of the program is helping preschoolers develop early reading and math skills. Head Start typically serves children ages 3 to 5 years. Early Head Start, which was established in 1995, serves children from birth until 3 years of age.

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) began its involvement in Head Start in 1968, with the establishment of its Cabrini Children’s Center at Holy Family Church. Today, LSSI operates five sites — Rogers Park, Trinidad (Humboldt Park), Messiah (Englewood), Winthrop (Uptown) and North Austin. (The Cabrini site was closed in 2007.) Nearly 300 children — and their families — are served annually at these sites.