The Miami-Dade County Community Action and Human Services Department is responsible for providing comprehensive countywide social and human services to the residents of Miami-Dade County. The expectation is to continue providing the needed resources to targeted communities including children, seniors and families through advocacy, education and service delivery. Our Head Start/Early Head Start program is part of this department and the Mission Statement is … “To provide comprehensive social services to assist children, juveniles, adults, elderly, and families to attain self-sufficiency, to function independently, and to lead productive lives.”
The Head Start program is a comprehensive child development program serving children from 3 to 5 years of age. These services are family-centered and follow the tenets that children develop in the context of their family and culture. Head Start is also child-focused since the primary goal is to increase the social competence in young children from low-income families. This definition of social competence considers the interrelatedness of social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Out local Head start program is a program of excellence and at KIDCO we provide a high-quality Head Start program to serve our children and families. Head Start Guide Positive Child Outcomes
The Early Head Start program is the companion comprehensive child development program serving children from birth to age 3 including pregnant women. These children and families can stay in the program and enjoy the continuity of services that very young children and families deserve. Particularly the targeted families we serve who have low income; many lack an education and need encouraging job skills. These services are family-centered and follow the tenets that children develop in the context of their family and culture. They are also child-focused since the primary goal is to increase the social competence in young children from low-income families. This definition of social competence considers the interrelatedness of social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Our local Head Start/Early Head Start program is a program of excellence and at KIDCO we provide a high-quality Head Start program to serve our children and families.
Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. This is our state mandated agency who oversees the state funds allocated to subsidize direct-services for school readiness programs in licensed child care facilities. At KIDCO we make every possible effort to improve quality of teacher-child interactions; implement evidence-based teaching practices; and implement and assess evidence-based curriculum. These are three of the primary goals to help children get ready for school.
The Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Program (VPK) provides every four-year-old in the State of Florida the opportunity to direct educational set hours during the school year or a summer program. These quality hours are to focus on children’s activities to support their school readiness and pre-reading skills. The program operates with vouchers given to parents if they make the choice to involved their children in these learning experiences. Early care and education programs like KIDCO, must meet specific criterion to qualify as an approved VPK provider.
State of Florida United States Department of Agriculture Child Care Nutrition Program (USDA). This is the primary food and nutrition program that services children at participating licensed child care facilities in our county and our state. Based on the number of sites (5) and the total number of children we serve (32) KIDCO is a USDA sponsoring agency and we closely follow all state guidelines that help subsidize the three nutritionally balanced meals we provide our children each day. We work with a nutritional consultant under contract at KIDCO to ensure that we have properly address any individual concerns faced by our children and families. KIDCO makes every possible effort to respect cultural and community diversity.
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