A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Achieving the Goals: Goal 1--All Children in America Will Start School Ready to Learn

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Family Investment Centers

The Family Investment Center (FIC) program provides grants to public and Indian housing authorities to help them provide families with better access to education and employment opportunities that will ultimately help them achieve economic self-sufficiency. FICs provide a vehicle for the integrated delivery of a wide range of supportive services, enhancing the prospects for community development in a number of ways, including child care, employment training and counseling, computer skills training, literacy training, and high school graduate equivalency certification.

Marcia Martin
Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street, S.W., Room 4112
Washington, DC 20410

(202) 708-4214

Inn Circle, Inc.
Cedar Rapids, IA

Inn-Circle is a "two-generational" early childhood strategy that combines child care with strategies to help parents become self-sufficient and reintegrated into the community. The local Head Start program works in partnership with a transitional housing facility for forty-four formerly homeless single mothers and their children. In addition to education classes, employment training, case management, health care, and counseling services. Inn Circle helps residents develop peer support skills, participate in decision making and service activities, and engage with local neighborhood institutions and associations.

Funding

Inn-Circle operates with an annual budget of $645,000, most of which is funded through HUD's Supplemental Assistance to Facilities to Assist the Homeless. Other monies come from state emergency shelter funds, Head Start, the Iowa Department of Public Health, WIC, and the United Way. Residents contribute one-third of their gross income for rent.

Services for Children

Inn-Circle houses a Head Start program for thirty-two 3- and 4-year olds from resident families as well as from low-income working families in the neighborhood. Classrooms are open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. to provide extended child care for working parents. There are toddler and infant rooms to care for 18 younger children, and after school care is available for children in kindergarten to sixth grade. Head Start staff conduct three home visits a year that focus on the child's education and the family's needs as a whole. Teachers have worked to adjust their expectations and routines to accommodate the special social and emotional needs of children from homeless families.

Head Start Program

The Office of Community Relations and Involvement (CRI) has implemented an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to bring Head Start, one of the Federal Government's most highly acclaimed programs, to public housing communities. Expanding this network, a joint effort administered by HHS through the interagency agreement, provides opportunities for early childhood education and after-school enrichment programs in or near public and Indian housing. Low-income parents and guardians now have the opportunity to take advantage of full-day educational programs, health screening, and supplemental nutrition services for their children. While children attend the full-or part-day child care programs, parents or guardians can seek, retain, or train for employment.

Ms. Beverly Hardy
Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street, S.W., Room 4112
Washington, DC 20410

(202) 708-4214

Early Childhood Development Demonstration

The purpose of the early childhood demonstration program is to expand the availability of full-day year-round child care services so that parents or guardians can obtain the skills and/or education necessary to enter and remain in the workforce.

Ms. Beverly Hardy
Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street, S.W., Room 4112
Washington, DC 20410

(202) 708-4214


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