Early Head Start
What Is It?
The Early Head Start program provides quality childcare, family services, and home visitation to 120 children and pregnant women in Spartanburg County.
Who Is Eligible?
In FY 1995, the Early Head Start (EHS) program was established to serve low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers from birth to three years of age in recognition of the mounting evidence that the earliest years matter a great deal to children's growth and development.
Head Start programs promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. They engage parents in their children's learning and help them in making progress toward their educational, literacy and employment goals. Significant emphasis is placed on the involvement of parents in the administration of local Head Start programs.
The EHS program is family centered and community based program designed to enhance children's physical, social emotional and intellectual development. Early Head Start supports parents in fulfilling their parental roles and helps them move toward economic independence.
Programs respond to the unique strengths and needs of their communities and of each child and family within that community. They have a broad range of flexibility in how they provide their services. EHS also offers families of young children with disabilities or developmental delays an inclusive environment.
Programs offer the following core services:
- High Quality early education in and out of the home.
- Family Support Services
- Home Visits
- Parent Education
- Comprehensive Health and Mental Health services, including services for pregnant and post-partum women.
- Nutrition
- Child Care
- Ongoing support for parents through case management and peer support.
How to Apply for the Early Head Start Program
You will need:
- Proof of Income
- Proof of residence in Spartanburg Coungy
- Age of the children
Site Locations
Spartanburg First Steps Early Head Start (FS EHS) provides quality childcare, family services, and parenting to children and pregnant women in 10 classrooms located in 5 center-based childcare sites throughout the county, better serving the needs of the families in poverty, since June 2003.
The childcare centers currently partnering with First Steps Early Head Start are:
- Jack Bee's Little Flock - (Private, Faith Based)
10796 Highway 11
Campobello, SC 29322 - School District Four - (Woodruff Primary)
200 Lucy P. Edwards
Woodruff, SC 29388 - Kelly's Kids, South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind
355 Cedar Springs Road
Spartanburg, SC 29302 - This is My Child - (Middle Tyger Community Center)
School District Five, Lyman, SC
84 Groce Road
Lyman, SC 29365
FS EHS operates the childcare center of Roy C. Henderson for the Spartanburg Housing Authority at Tobias Hartwell Campus of Learners, Spartanburg, SC
- Roy C. Henderson Child Development Center
Spartanburg Housing Authority
154B George Washington Carver Dr.
Spartanburg, SC 29306
For more information, call Spartanburg County First Steps:
Telephone: 864.327.4904, Jeri Ross Hayes
Fax: 864.327.4910