Why
To nurture safe and trusting relationships so that all members of our community know they matter and believe in their potential to impact their world.
MESSAGE FROM THE Director
Dear Friends,
Thank you for taking the time to read The Opportunity Alliance Head Start/Early Head Start annual report for 2024 – 2025. We are exceptionally proud of our programming and the caring learning community we have built. With families centered as the primary teachers of children, and parents who have their own goals for learning and growth, we build on one another’s strengths.
Parent as primary teacher is not solely an ideal that is invoked without solid practices to support the claim. Family Advocates bring information and opportunities to families and work with parents to develop personal goals that reflect individual priorities. Parents are role models to their children as they seek to finish degrees, find employment or upgrade housing, for example. A parent representative from each classroom forms the Head Start Policy Council; Policy Council serves as a governing body for our program. The group guides and collaborates with staff to design family engagement, program policies and maintain oversight of all the requirements of our federal Head Start grant.
Our program quality is maintained and enhanced as teachers and other staff are also required to be learners about their role. Each month during the school year staff join together for professional development days. During the 2024 – 2025 school year, we focused on growing our understanding of the CLASS assessment which assesses teacher-child interaction in three areas - emotional
support, classroom organization and instructional support. This research-based assessment gives us insight into how we are supporting individual student growth in the classroom, thus enabling constant quality improvement in delivery of the Head Start program.
Head Start is a reflection of the communities where our classrooms are located, and they, in turn, reflect our presence and participation. This makes it especially important to us to have strong community partnerships. Eligible families at Youth and Family Outreach, an early childhood center, now have the opportunity to participate in Head Start. We continue to host classrooms in partnership with the Westbrook School Department. This year we offered our first swim classes for children sponsored by Maine Community Swimming.
2025 is the 60th anniversary of the Federal Head Start program. As ever, The Opportunity Alliance is proud to hold the Head Start grant for Cumberland County, Maine. Head Start continues to be a model program for child and family health and education. We appreciate your support.
Best wishes,
Jennifer Burns
WHO WE Served
FAMILIES AT A GLANCE
The Opportunity Alliance served a total of 3 prenatal women and 177 children and their families in our Head Start & Early Head Start programs.
FAMILIES AT A GLANCE
The children served by The Opportunity Alliance Head Start and Early Head Start programs in the 2024-2025 program year were developmentally, culturally, and linguistically diverse.
NEURODIVERSITY
Through initial developmental screenings and ongoing assessment and observation, many children were referred to Child Development Services (CDS) for special services.
42 Children in the Head Start program had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
8 Children in Early Head Start had an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)
15 Children who were eligible for services did not receive them
13 Speech or Language Impairments
2 Health Impairment
2 Developmental Delays
EARLY Learning
Teachers and Family Visitors facilitate individualized learning experiences to promote children’s readiness for school and beyond. Through planned and spontaneous instruction, relationships with adults, and play, children grow in language and literacy, early math and science concepts, and social and emotional development.
OUR APPROACH TO SCHOOL READINESS
Research shows that children who receive high-quality early childhood experiences and strong family support are far more likely to succeed in school and throughout their life.
CHILDREN ARE PREPARED FOR SCHOOL
We believe children thrive in nurturing environments in which they are trusted and respected. Children benefit from a comprehensive program that supports all areas of development. Children learn through relationships with teachers and peers, through creative open-ended play and through exploring intentionally designed classroom environments. To support learning, our program utilizes the Creative Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers and Opening the World of Learning (OWL) and Second Step for preschoolers. Our Family Visitors use the Parents as Teachers (PAT) curriculum with families in the home.
FAMILIES ARE SUPPORTING CHILDREN’S LEARNING
To maximize child outcomes, we work to support family stability and well-being. Parents are considered their children’s first and most important teachers. They are viewed as partners in identifying the learning needs and goals of their children. Through home visits, parent conferences, playgroups, volunteering, parent committees and Policy Council, parents are fully engaged in the education of their children.
SCHOOLS ARE READY AS CHILDREN TRANSITION INTO KINDERGARTEN
We cannot achieve our goals without strong community partnerships. We strategically collaborate with other providers to improve access to services for our children and families and to support their transition to Kindergarten. We strive to partner with welcoming schools by inviting them into our program, participating in transition meetings, and providing them with important information as children and families move on to the next step in their journey.
% COMPARISON OF 4-YEAR-OLD CHIDREN MEETING OR EXCEEDING TEACHING STRATEGIES GOLD WIDELY HELD EXPECTATIONS FOR FALL 2024 AND SPRING 2025
NUTRITION & Health
Children’s nutrition and health play a vital role in overall development. Our program currently partners and connects families with organizations that support health, nutrition, and wellness.
THE CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM (CACFP):
provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks for all children in our centers.
THE LOCKER PROJECT:
in partnership with the Good Shepherd Food Bank, provides nutritious fresh food and staples to children and their families in Cumberland County through partnerships with public schools and other agencies. Their wholefamily approach to child hunger improves the nutritional content of diets, stretches food budgets and encourages the enjoyment of nourishing food at home. From July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, the Locker Project shared 50,292 pounds of food with Head Start families.
MAINELY TEETH:
provides an opportunity for children to receive preventive oral health care while at school. Hygienists travel to each site to perform cleanings and basic treatment. Using a virtual model, exams done by hygienists are then reviewed by offsite dentists. For children who attend these clinics at school, Mainely Teeth then becomes their dental home for ongoing future care. Mainely Teeth has become the dental home for more than 100 of our Head Start students over the past few years.
NORTHEAST HEARING & SPEECH:
interns and medical students perform hearing screenings for all children using otoacoustic emissions technology.
VISION SCREENS:
staff use an America Academy of Pediatrics approved vision screener to screen children’s eyes beginning at age one. The device screens for six common risk factors in children including: myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, anisometropia, strabismus, and anisocoria. In the 2024-2025 school year, 14 children were referred to their pediatrician or eye care provider for follow up and four received glasses.
HEARING SCREENS:
the program has obtained the same basic equipment as audiology providers use (otoacoustic emissions technology) to screen children’s hearing throughout the year. This ensures that any hearing concerns are addressed and do not inhibit a child’s education.
DEVELOPMENT PEDIATRICS RESIDENTS:
the program has a new partnership with MaineHealth’s Residency program in which medical students who are completing their residency phase at the Development Pediatrics department get a chance to interact with children in Head Start and Early Head Start. This partnership increases an understanding of children’s development in an educational setting while encompassing social emotional education.
FAMILY
Engagement
Parents and families are supported in achieving their own goals, such as housing stability, continued education, and financial security. Programs support and strengthen parent-child relationships and engage families around children’s learning and development.
FAMILIES ARE BUSIER THAN EVER managing work, home, school, and the many other needs that arise each day. Our Family Services team partners with parents and caregivers to support whole family well-being. Each family has the opportunity to explore and identify their strengths, needs, and interests and to create goals that are meaningful to them. Over the course of the year, families set and achieve goals in areas such as housing,
employment, continuing education, family relationships, and transportation.
Data for the program year shows families improved their outcomes in nearly all areas, most notably in household resources, employment, family literacy, and educational transitions.
Funding
The Opportunity Alliance’s fiscal year 2023-2024 included the dates of July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025
FEDERAL FUNDING
FEDERAL BASE GRANT EXPENDITURES BY CATEGORY
OTHER FUNDING
LOOKING Ahead
2025-2026 is going to be a time to build partnerships. In 2024-2025 we operate Head Start partnerships with Youth and Family Outreach and Westbrook School Department. Looking forward, we will engage with additional school districts in our service area, as well as with private service providers who have Head Start eligible families. Maine is in the final years of establishing universal access to public preK and establishing educational supports to children as young as three years old through the public school system. Education and family services providers will need to work together in Maine to reach our common goal to educate children in ways that best serve their individual needs. Head Start has 60 years of experience in this work that equips us to be leaders in the transition.
Bridgton 6 Meadow Street LOCATIONS Portland
81 East Oxford Street 102-104 Riverton Drive
215 Congress Street
South Portland 50 Lydia Lane Westbrook 102 Glenwood Ave
TOA assures non-discrimination in all aspects of program participation, in conformance with Federal regulations. No one will be denied access to any aspect of program participation because of age, sex, sexual orientation, race,color, religion, national origin, handicap, veteran status, or political affiliation or belief. Some of the service sdescribed here are partially funded by the Department of Human Services.