Early Childhood Education
Early Childhood Education (ECE) is one of our longest standing programs, primarily through receiving Head Start and Early Head Start funding for nearly 60 years. In addition to our preschool and infant toddler classrooms we have home visiting with pregnant and new parents and parent/caregiver cohorts in our Thriving Families program. High quality ECE is one of the five core areas of the Whole Family Approach. If parents or caregivers don’t have access to care then it is nearly impossible to find a job (or often multiple jobs) to provide basic needs for their family, much less to spend the quality time needed to support their children’s development with reading, social emotional regulation, and specialized services. While our community has a shortage of child care slots, there are a number of subsidized and state funded programs through our partners 4Cs, local schools, and others. 4Cs is also the resource and referral (R and R) site for most of Sonoma County to help families find quality child care and to support the development of child care sites; River to Coast Children’s Services provides the R and R support for West County. Sonoma CAN participates in multiple collaboratives to increase the quality and availability of ECE in Sonoma County, including the Child Care Planning Council, the First 5 Leadership Roundtable, and the Our Kids Our Future/Measure I initiative.
Head Start and Early Head Start are unique programs in that they are entirely free for eligible families, when spots are available, and families are provided with wrap-around whole family services. The origin of Head Start goes back to Community Action’s birth and the war on poverty. In addition to maintaining the most rigorous national standards and ratios, our family outreach workers are providing support and access to financial stability, resource assistance, workforce development, parent education, and parent engagement. The national Head Start program has nearly 60 years of data to reflect its ability to disrupt generational poverty. Head Start programs support children’s growth from birth to age 5 through services that support early learning and development, health, and family well-being. Head Start staff actively engage parents, recognizing family participation throughout the program as key to strong child outcomes.
Learn more about our Preschool or Infant-Toddler programs and the specific eligibility requirements below.
Eligibility Requirements
Head Start services are for children from birth to compulsory school age, as well as pregnant people and expectant families. Eligible participants include children whose families meet the federal low-income guidelines — that is, whose incomes are at or below the federal poverty guidelines or who are homeless, involved in the foster care system, or participate in SonomaWORks, Supplemental Security Income, or CalFresh programs. All programs enroll children with disabilities and welcome children who speak a language other than English at home.
As there are generally more eligible children than is supported by program funding, each program maintains a waiting list for each site that follows our selection criteria for when a spot becomes available. Our navigators help families move through the application process and support families on the waiting list with access to other services.
Preschool
Our preschool programs are funded by the Office of Head Start, serving children ages 3-5.
Infant & Toddler
Our infant Toddler programs are primarily funded by Early Head Start funding and serve prenatal to age 3.
