Luzerne County Head Start – 2015 Outstanding Community Partner

The 2015 MFHS Outstanding Community Partner Award is presented to Luzerne County Head Start in recognition of a long-standing partnership that has reached a new level of innovative collaboration. MFHS and Luzerne County Head Start have worked together over the past 40-plus years in pursuit of our common goals to give children a healthy start and prepare them for future success. We have been referral partners connecting families in need to each other’s programs and services, and worked closely on a variety of projects and initiatives.
Since 2013, MFHS and Luzerne County Head Start have been sharing space in Tunkhannock, co-locating our WIC Nutrition Center with an Early Head Start office. This past year, we took the partnership to a new level, opening the first satellite WIC Nutrition Center in a Head Start location. Now families enrolled in Head Start at Beekman Street, Wilkes-Barre, can have their WIC appointment on site at Head Start. This helps removes barriers, improves convenience, and allows for more efficient service delivery.
MFHS and Luzerne County Head Start took the lead in fulfilling a state-level commitment between WIC and Head Start to enhance and strengthen the partnership between both programs and improve access for children and families who could benefit from both WIC and Head Start. This coordinated approach to meeting the early childhood education and nutritional needs of families will help prepare young children for a lifetime of healthy habits and future success.