Early Head Start Partnership Program

If you are interested in learning more or enrolling in our program, please complete our Interest Form. 

The Early Head Start Partnership Program is a collaboration of Columbus’ leading community agencies focused on the education and welfare of children and their families. Our goal is to ensure that children from infancy to age four, receive a healthy and enriching start in life. Early Head Start provides high-quality early education, along with comprehensive child development, health, nutrition, social and other services to families who qualify. We work with families, partners and providers in a comprehensive approach to meet the needs of the whole child and whole family. This generational approach supports stability and long-term success for families who are at most risk. In 2015, the partnership received $18 million in federal and non-federal funding for a five year period.

In 2019, a new grant was awarded to continue our efforts through 2024. In 2021, the program was awarded an expansion grant of $10 million for another five year period. This newest grant enables us to serve 103 more infants, toddlers and families, for a total of 263 child care spaces. Read how we are expanding our reach to provide a continuum of services for low-income families. Together with our partners from the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning and Crane Center for Early Childhood Education Research and Policy, we are making an impact on child, family and community success. Learn how we’re making a difference in our monthly newsletter.

Want to know more? Read our 2020-2021 Annual Report.

Malcolm Jenkins Foundation: Giving Back to EHS Families
During the 2021 holidays, The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation brought the spirit of giving to 135 EHS families through its  annual Holiday Dinner Basket Surprise. The drive helps to ensure families in need experience joy and cheer during the holiday season. A former Buckeye, Jenkins has won Super Bowls with the New Orleans Saints and the Philadelphia Eagles. EHS staff volunteered alongside Directions for Youth and Families, Ohio State Nisonger Center and EHS board member and former Buckeye, Obie Stillwell, to prepare and distribute the baskets of food. Last month, the foundation worked with community partners to identify and provide dinners to more than 540 families in Ohio, New Jersey, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Watch the NBC4 coverage here.

 

 

 

The Bipartisan Policy Center released a Spotlighting Early Successes Across America report highlighting the success of 12 Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP) across the country. EHS-CCP was created by Congress in 2014 to address the lack of high-quality, affordable child care in the U.S., and assist in building capacity for quality child care options especially for low-income families. Early Head Start grantees partner with local child care providers who then receive funding and resources to improve the quality of services offered. The children they serve receive access to higher-quality early care and education, as well as comprehensive services like nutritious meals, health and dental care, mental health supports, family engagement opportunities, and screenings to identify developmental delays or disabilities early. This report by the BPC highlighted 12 such programs across the country, including one here in Columbus, Ohio, housed within Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology and located within the Schoenbaum Family Center. According to the report, The Ohio State Early Head Start Partnership Program represents the best of the early childhood community to innovate and solve local problems. Ohio State’s integrated approach involves 19 childcare providers and 17 community partners operating collectively to improve childcare quality, expand access to comprehensive services, and promote learning and development to 160 children and their families, annually. The report also highlights Ohio State’s partnership with the Franklin County Department of Jobs and Family Services that has led to 100 families benefiting from caseworker assistance with the child care subsidy process, and recognizes the mixed-income delivery system as a cornerstone of the Columbus site. Read the report here.