Core Values
Quality
-- Building upon the
Performance Standards as a foundation, Head Start strives to consistently
provide the highest level of service to children and families. Head Start
leadership seeks to create a dynamic and cohesive environment that fosters
commitment and supports continuous improvement.
Inclusion --
Building a community where each child and adult is treated as an individual
while at the same time a sense of belonging to the group is reinforced,
including community values, respect, and responsive to diversity -- in culture,
ethnicity, language, and ability.
Empowerment --
Believing that people can identify their own needs and interests and are capable
of finding solutions and making changes. Head Start offers people
opportunities and support for growth and change.
Collaboration --
Building relationships with and among children, families, staff, and the larger
community. Families are served by a network of community agencies and
informal networks in partnership with one another.
Learning --
Creating an environment for children, parents, and staff that is culturally
sensitive and where enhancing awareness and refining skills and understanding is
valued and promoted. Children, parents and staff can teach and learn from
each other.
Advocacy --
Reaffirming that personal responsibility is critical to change, while
acknowledging that social and economic factors can have negative effects on the
lives and potential of children and families.
Wellness --
Embracing a comprehensive vision of health for children, families, and staff
that assures that basic health needs are met; encouraging practices that prevent
future illness or injury, and promotes positive, culturally relevant health
behaviors that enhance life long well-being.
Nurture --
supporting the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of each
child in the context of the child's family and culture.
Diversity --
Recognizing that all members of the Head Start community -- children, families
and staff -- have roots in many cultures. Head Start families and staff,
working together as a team, can effectively promote respectful, sensitive, and
pro-active approaches to diversity issues within their programs.
Continuity --
Creating a continuum of care, education, and services to provide stable
uninterrupted support to families and children during the early childhood period
beginning with pregnancy and extending through age eight.
