Missouri Head Start Association

“Expenses supplies 30 miscellaneous/admin expenses 500 web hosting fees 648 travel 928 conferences & meetings held 12,664 insurance 525 region vii dues 4,454 national head start dues 300 grant expense 250 total 20,299”

“The primary exempt purpose of the missouri head start association is to promote advocacy, education and leadership of head start agencies throughout the state of missouri.”

“Leadership & training- mhsa designs and/or provides effective leadership & training by- 1. Mhsa council meetings and instruction:providing parent and staff leadership training in jefferson city, mo in february, may, september, and december 2016 through the mhsa council meetings. These trainings allow interaction for head start management staff and family leaders elected to the mhsa council to receive training on various topics from regional and federal priorities related to head start families, including but not limited to: how to more fully engage families in the school readiness priorities for their children and self-sufficiency of their families, especially through community partnerships, instruction on providing comprehensive services to children from highly vulnerable situations including homelessness, supporting families in their effective communication practices for building relationships within their family and community and special supports for families with special learning needs. Mhsa also provides continuous family leadership training through regular legislative updates and tools to inform parents on how to effectively speak with locally and state-wide elected officials about the needs of this population. Many of the staff and family leaders associated with the council then proceed to participate in teh annual head start family leadership conference to train on advocacy and awareness practices. Approximately 120 people participated in 2016 at mhsa council meetings. 2. Teacher assessment and professional growth tool: mhsa coordinates the instruction for providing classroom assessment scoring system training (class) and follow-up throughout 2016 in columbia,mo. Mhsa supports programs in their use of this evidence-based and heavily researched instrument to improve the quality of teacher and child interactions in the educational setting. Program education coordinators are instructed on how to use the rating system for teachers as a professional development tool that is used during program assessments by the office of head start. Mhsa provides the administrative and general support needed to offset the costs of this training to be offered to head start programs and child-care partners from across missouri. Mhsa also includes teaching follow-wp for participants through ongoing professional development opportunities offered through a community of practice approach to continued growth and dialogue. Approximatley 25 people received class tool instruction in 2016 through mhsa and approximately 75 people participated in follow-up in 2016 through specified community of practice events. 3. Providing focused and faciliated dialogue for staff professional knowledge building: in coordiation with state and regional partners, mhsa offers monthly community of practice events to support head start/early head start staff and partners on focused areas related to their field of expertise. Held on the second friday of every month in columbia, focus- content areas include: early head start & child care partnerships; family & community engagement; class & education coordination/coaching & health, mental health and disabilities. These content areas for community of practice are then offered to staff from each field to come together, hear of new initiatives or resources to consider in their local program and a faciliated discussion is held to expand individuals scope of knowledge based upon the resources presented. Individuals are then expected to create a plan fo action of how to implement or use this new resource in their work back home and these plans are shared with head start training & technical assistance staff to be used potentially in follow-up visits. Twelve events were held in 2016 wtih approximately 180 participants.”

“Mhsa works to establish collaborative partnerships with other similar organizations and groups by- -working to establish a platform for continued dialogue with partners including the mo head start-state collaboration office, mo department of social services, mo community action network and region vii office of head start-administration for children and families to improve communication between head start grantees and community action resources. Opportunities for ongoing partnerships are established both through srevice on each other's advisory councils or boards and through daily work on shared goals. As appropriate, collaboration on mutually beneficial events are held including teh "head start-a critical link" event held in february of 2016 that focused on serving homeless children and families. -membership on the region vii head start association board of directors. As one of four states representing region vii, missouri has the largest amount of children and staff. The needs of the children are greatly diverse depending on the location and resources at hand for each individual program. Mhsa serves as a voice for missouri programs on the regional board. This collaborative partnership is particularly important as it allows missouri's needs to be heard on a larger platform and to effectively pool resources with other states to better serve children in region vii. -ongoing partnerships with the missouri head start state collaboration office, region vii administration for children and families and region vii training and technical assistance team. Mhsa serves as the convener for most meetings between this group of collaborators to further expand our knowledge base of the scope of work and role of each agency and serving head start children and communities involved.”

“Increasing public awareness by- -writing and distributing regular email alert bulletins to the mhsa network which contains information on upcoming events, pending legislation, program highlights, and statewide initiatives. -providing a website which also provides information as outlined above. It also provides information regarding national and state statistics related to head start and low-income families in missouri. -sharing information, as invited, to local and state-wide audiences and by serving on national calls and other outlets to share about the work of head start in missouri.”