PARTNERSHIPS

Collaborating with other organizations and agencies is an essential part of ensuring the success of the Higher Horizons Head Start and Early Head Start program. Community partners assist Higher Horizons with building the capacity for families to be self-sufficient by providing a comprehensive range of resources for families. Throughout the years, Higher Horizons has established community partnerships with over 50 public and private service providers. Higher Horizons’ partners have provided families with free health and dental screenings, health information, opportunities involving recruitment activities, Medicaid information and mental health services.

If it were not for the additional support from a variety of community partners, Higher Horizons acknowledges that the organization would not be able to offer such an extensive array of services. At Higher Horizons, we are always interested in exploring the possibility of new collaborations and partnerships and we are thankful for the gracious support of our existing community partners.

The following are some examples of key community partners that Higher Horizons has collaborated with:

• Culmore Resource Center provides culturally appropriate, prevention-oriented programs that promote child protection and build on the strength of families.



• Fairfax County’s Community Services Board works to support the community by providing mental health resources and mental health services to infants, toddlers and their families.



• Infant and Toddler Connection of Virginia provides Early Head Start services to eligible families currently receiving early intervention services and families on the Infant and Toddler waitlist and facilitates the referral process for Early Head Start children.



• The Literacy Council of Northern Virginia is a non-profit educational organization that recruits and trains volunteers to teach adults who need help reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English speaking. The organization’s mission is to teach adults the basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English in order to empower them to participate more fully and confidently in their communities.



• Local Colleges and Universities. Higher Horizons has solid partnerships with local colleges and universities and offer intern placements for social work interns, teaching interns, nursing interns, and special project interns. A key feature of the existing collaboration with George Mason University is their internship assignments from the Unified Transformative Early Education Model (UTEEM) program. The UTEEM program leads to a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction degree and triple teacher licensure. It prepares professionals to work with culturally, linguistically diverse young children and their families in schools and diverse community settings. Several interns who graduated from the program are currently employed at Higher Horizons and current summer 2009 interns have expressed interest in permanent employment. Higher Horizons has intern partnerships with NOVA, George Mason University School of Social Work and George Washington University.



• Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts – “Baby Steps” program, provides access to professionals who provide strategies for staff on innovative techniques for enhancing their interactions with infants and toddlers.