Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason and Commissioner Vince Lago hosted The Early Learning Coalition of Miami- Dade/Monroe, a “super grantee” for Early Head Start, for planting of a rosebush to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Head Start. The planting ceremony took place on June 18 at the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center, 405 University Dr.
Head Start, launched in 1965, was designed to help break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children of low income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs of children ages 3 to 5.
For a half century Head Start has been the premier model for providing the whole child an opportunity for success in school and in life. Since the summer of 1965, more than 32 million children have benefited from Head Start and Early Head Start comprehensive services,
They have become business women and men, professors, teachers, lawyers, mayors, members of Congress, athletes, foundation presidents, Grammy-winning musicians, poets, and parents.
The Early Learning Coalition of Miami- Dade/Monroe, headquartered in Coral Gablesm will serve more than 750 infants and toddlers through a grant awarded in late 2014.
The Early Learning Coalition was founded in 2000 following the enactment of the School Readiness Act, which consolidated Florida’s early learning services into one integrated program and began administering Voluntary Pre-K services in 2005. The Coalition serves more than 20,000 children with federal school readiness subsidy and more than 24,000 through the state funded Florida Voluntary Pre-K program.
“We are living up to the promise we made to our community, Florida taxpayers and the state legislature,” said Evelio Torres, president and CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe. “Most importantly, more dollars are making their way directly to working families so that they can place their children in early learning programs to better ensure school readiness and lifelong success.”
