Missouri Head Start Association

“Expenses supplies 730 miscellaneous/admin expenses 671 web hosting fees 600 travel 833 conferences & meetings held 2,409 training event expense 7,909 insurance 525 region vii dues 6,787 grant expense 250 total 20,714”

“The primary exempt purpose of the missouri head start association is to coalesce, inspire, and support the head start field as a leader in early childhood development and education.”

“Leadership & training- mhsa designs and/or provides effective leadership & training by- 1. Mhsa council meetings and instruction: providing parent and staff leadership instructions in jefferson city, mo in february, may, september, and december 2017 through the mhsa council meetings. These trainings allow interaction for head start management, staff, community partners and parents in receiving resources and supporting instruction on various topics as outlined through a state-level needs assessment, insight from local programs and general early childhood and head start best practices. Mhsa council members are elected to serve on the state council through local parent committee and policy councils and are included, but were not limited to, information on trauma-informed care, promoting healthy classrooms and important steps toward managing stress through self-care to better serve the needs of head start children and families. Mhsa also provides continuous family leadership training through regular legislative updates and the sharing of education-advocacy strategies to inform parents on how to effectively advocate for their child in their community and in speaking with others about their needs. Approximately 100 people participated in 2017. 2. Practice based coaching institute/teachers learning & collaborating: in response to the trends of head start programs moving more toward coaching as a format for supporting professional development needs of classroom teachers, mhsa hosted training in partnership with the head start training/technical assistance team to help program managers to better understand this approach. Mhsa provides the administrative and general support needed for this training offered to head start, early head start and child-care partnerships across missouri. Approximatley 25 participants received this instruction in 2017. 3. Head start trauma learning-intensive instruction: in response to programs needs and in partnership with key state department experts, mhsa began a learning intensive focused on building the capacity of programs to better serve the needs of children related to trauma-sensitive-practiced. This learning began in may of 2017 and included in-person and web-based instruction working with head start programs to better understand the impact of trauma on a child's developing brain and how to support children who have experienced trauma early in life. Approximately 35 participants attended the in-person instruction in 2017. 4. Community of practice: building upon past year's work, mhsa continued to work to host professional development events with partners that promoted small group sharing of best practices, networking and application of new concepts in working to fulfull head start program performance standards. These events are usually held in columbia, mo and are hosted in partnership with other state and regional level partners and experts in participants coming from local head start programs that are at a mid-management level in their program. Approximately 140 participants met together throughout 2017.”

“Mhsa works to establish collaborative partnerships with other similar organizations and groups by- -partnering with the other state-level partners, mhsa works to identify areas of need and opportunities for collaboration for head start programs in serving the needs of programs working with families toward their children's school readiness goals in a community model. This event, which served as a continuation of the "head start-a critical link in the early education system" annual event, brought together head start programs within community action agencies and those located outside of that model to share on the resources available in every community regardless of placement. In addition to the opportunity to learn about resources in their communities, much of the discussion focused on instruction from regional office about implementing the new head start program performance standards and provided updates from the office of child care and the office of head start's region vii staff. About 40 participants were in attendance for this discussion held in february of 2017. Leadership on state boards and advisory councils- - mhsa represents the head start community and the association as a whole on several boards and councils including the region vii head start association board of directors, mo head start-state collaboration office advisory council, and the missouri community action network. The needs of the children are greatly diverse depending on the location and resources at hand for each program and mhsa works to serve as a voice for these programs at the state and regional levels. These collaborative partnerships are a particularly important opportunity to allow local programs' needs to be heard on a larger platform and to effectively pool resources with other states to better serve children in missouri and region vii. - mhsa works to encourage ongoing partnerships with the missouri head start-state collaboration office, region vii administration for children and families, and region vii training/technical assistance team. Mhsa often serves as a convener for meetings between these groups of collaborators to further expand our knowledge-base of the scope of work and role of each agency and in serving head start children and communities. Mhsa often serves as an administrative lead for projects, meetings or special discussions that are held together.”

“Increasing public awareness- -mhsa regularly shares email alerts and information with programs which contain information on upcoming events, legislation, program highlights and statewide initiatives. -mhsa provides information to programs and members through the annual meeting on information related to mo head start programs and opportunities offered. This information is also shared with attendees of the annual family leadership conference and through mhsa council meetings. -mhsa hosts a website which provides information about the head start program, how to contact programs, and the benefits of the head start program and other missouri-specific details related to head start.”