It has been an incredibly busy summer!  This season, we have so many awesome things going on:  launching a new project, serving new counties, attending tons of training, and gearing up for an upcoming school year.  Here are some of the great successes we had during the month of June:

• Our Annual Head Start Self Assessment was a great success!  Each summer our staff, Board members, and community leaders come together to evaluate our Head Start Program.  This valuable process helps us identify our strengths and areas for growth and develop strategies to improve our program, best support our teaching staff, and maximize child and family outcomes.
• Our Energy Assistance Program received 50 air conditioners for this Summer Program!  These air conditioners will be distributed to households with members who are elderly, disabled, or under the age of 5 and that have medical conditions that require air conditioning.  With the heatwave temperatures we have had over the last several weeks, these air conditioners can literally be life-savers for those in need!
• Congratulations to Becky Cole, our Head Start Special Needs and Mental Health Coordinator, on passing the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) recertification test!  CLASS is used in our Head Start Program to evaluate teacher and student interactions and to ensure our program is meeting the highest quality standards in our classrooms.
• The Energy Assistance Summer Cool Program is here!  Approved households will receive $134 this year toward their summer cooling costs.
• We had a great kick-off to our Camp And More Project!  We held a group orientation for families interested in applying on June 14th and continued to host one-on-one application sessions with families for the next week.  By the end of the month, we had selected 17 youth ages 10-13 to send to Jameson Camp, an overnight, recreational summer camp in Indianapolis.  As part of this project, those families that were selected were provided with a full scholarship for their child to attend camp, transportation to and from Jameson for campers and their families, and packing list essentials for their week at camp.  CAMP is a new project for this year, and we are so excited to be providing solutions for community needs through new programming!
• Section 8 pulled 30 names from the waiting lists!  As always, we are thrilled at the opportunity to help new families secure quality and affordable housing!

The good times are just beginning!  We’ve got tons of new and exciting things coming up in July, so make sure to check back soon to hear all about it.  Go OVO!