Head Start opens new Maryville location

Douglas-Cherokee Head Start celebrated the opening of a new location on Friday, July 26.

The school, located at 510 Home Ave., serves children ages birth through five years old.

With this new opening, the Head Start program will now have three locations in Maryville.

Head Start is a federally funded program that was started in 1965 after former President Lyndon B. Johnson declared his “War on Poverty.” According to Head Start literature, it was designed to meet the “emotional, social, health, nutritional and educational needs of preschool children from low-income families.”

The school, which is fully enrolled with 68 children, has been four years in the making. It was funded by a grant through the Department of Human Services. Each classroom has a teacher, a teacher’s assistant and a childcare aid. The school also employs Family Advocates and Positive Behavior Support Advocates who go into the classrooms and work with kids who might have behavior issues or are having difficulty transitioning into the program.

Emily Kelley, with Douglas-Cherokee Economic Authority, explained that Head Start is different from what most would consider daycare. Head Start works with curriculum to teach and prepare students for Kindergarten the best they can. Head Start also works with the parents to help with anything from fixing roofs to helping the parents get their GED or enrolled in school. “We serve the whole family,” she said.

Community Action Agency Executive Director Tammye Pirie said that the CAA’s partnership with Head Start helps them assist the family as a whole. “It’s a great partnership to be able to say ‘Are your folks struggling with keeping the lights on? Are they struggling with food? Are they struggling with resources that Office On Aging can help with? Because we have three departments.’ It is a great partnership and we’ve worked with Douglas Cherokee for a while,” she said.

Pirie and Douglas-Cherokee Executive Director Megan Barnard both mentioned that they are seeing an increase in the number of families needing assistance.

“The folks that are in need are in tremendous need,” said Pirie.

Barnard said that this is the first time in 29 years that they have seen “basic needs” listed as the top need on their community needs assessment. In the past, top needs have been things like transportation or childcare. She said that some restructuring has had to happen in order to shift focus to these different needs, as well as looking for funding through grants.

“It’s just changing the way you think about how you’re going to provide services to folks,” Barnard explained.

Pirie agreed. She said they are seeing that working families are having higher needs with rising costs of things like grocery bills. CAA is helping folks who may have never had to ask for assistance before, folks who never knew these programs were out there.

“If somebody’s struggling with food, I guarantee you they’re struggling to keep their lights on,” she said.

That’s where DCHS and CAA work together, to meet the growing, numerous needs of the community.

For now, the new Head Start location is full, but qualifying families can request to be placed on a waiting list, and they can also look at Head Start’s other Maryville locations.