50 years of service to area counties

Inter-County Community Council is celebrating 50 years of serving Clearwater, Pennington Red Lake and East Polk counties.  ICCC is a private, non-profit Community Action Agency that was organized in April of 1965 by a group of local people to combat poverty. We will be sharing a story every week during the month of May to highlight the programs within our agency.  This week’s highlight is Head Start and Early Head Start.  

Giving Kids a Head Start 

Participation in high-quality early learning programs, such as Head Start, is proven to greatly increase the number of children who start school ready to learn and succeed.  When Minnesota’s kids have the best start possible, entering school fully prepared, everyone benefits.  Recent data demonstrates that children receiving Head Start services are approximately 8 months ahead of children the same age that have not received Head Start services.

Inter-County Community Council Head Start currently serves 176 families.  We have 23 Head Start staff working throughout our 3 program options. 

Head Start is a high quality preschool program serving income eligible families with young children ages birth-5.  We are dedicated to improving school readiness and engaging parents, families and the community.  The comprehensive program focuses on education, health, social/emotional health, nutrition, and family services.  Children receive developmental, social/emotional screenings, and age appropriate educational assessments to monitor their progress toward school readiness.   

Based on screenings and family requests, Head Start works with families to provide referrals for additional services, such as financial services, social/emotional health and special education.  Head Start works with numerous community partners to provide programming using local resources that are the most beneficial to our families.  

Head Start promotes proper, preventative health and dental care through regular well child check-ups, dental exams, age appropriate immunizations, and treatment for identified health needs. Head Start staff work with families to identify community resources to receive these services.  

ICCC Head Start has several program options that can benefit families with preschool children.  

Home Based Option

Your family home is a rich environment, full of learning opportunities.  Our home based program offers a teacher to come to your home for weekly visits.  Our teachers will assist you in identifying these learning opportunities and using them to the fullest.  They also provide opportunities for events to allow you and your child to interact with other families.  This option is offered throughout our service area.

Center Based Option

As children near the kindergarten age, we offer a classroom based option for families with 4 year old children.  This option is available in Thief River Falls and Bagley.  Children attend our classroom 4 half days per week, including riding the school bus if transportation is needed.  This option also offers regular family events for you and your child. 

Combination Based Option

This provides a combination of our other two options for 4 year olds in the school districts of Win-E-Mac, Clearbrook-Gonvick, Fosston, and Red Lake County Central-Oklee.  Children attend two days of classroom each week, but also get home visits every other week to maximize their learning opportunities within the home.  This option also provides opportunities for family events for you and your child.

ICCC Head Start is currently accepting applications for Fall 2015 programming.  You can apply by calling our office at 1-888-778-4008, visiting our website at www.intercountycc.org, or e-mailing headstart@intercountycc.org for an application.