Head Start helps close the gap

On April 4th the Hennepin County Head Start program was described by Alyce Dillon and her staff. She is the executive director of Parents in Community Action (PICA) that has operated the Hennepin County Head Start program since 1969. The Head Start program serves about 2500 children in 11 locations. Families who qualify ($17,600 for a family of 3) include the homeless and families with diverse language and ethnicity. These families are very mobile. The children receive dental, medical and mental health services. Recently several Head Start classes participated along with Mpls School Dt. students in a federally funded Early Reading First program. These students showed substantial gains over other students measured by the Beginning Kindergarten Assessment (BKA).