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Head Start and Early Head Start Easter Seals North Georgia Head Start and Early Head Start - 2008 Annual Report There are more than 162,241 children under the age of five years living in poverty in the state of Georgia. More than twenty-two thousand of these children reside in Fulton County. Many of these children have not had appropriate medical care and for some, eating three meals a day is a rare occurence. Research has shown that children living in poverty are at a greater risk of being sick and having inadequate health care; of being parents before they complete school; of being users of easily available drugs; of being exposed to violence; and of being incarcerated before they are old enough to vote. While reasonable people might debate the most powerful mix of strategies and approaches for improving the life chances of disadvantaged children, everyone agrees that a high quality education is at least part of the solution. This begins with high-quality early childhood care and preschool education that stimulates cognitive development, increases school readiness, and advances academic achievement in the early elementary grades. This is a goal of Easter Seals North Georiga's Head Start Program. Here, more than 600 children receive a comprehensive early childhood program that provides early childhood education, disability services, health services, dental services, vision and hearing services, parent training and social services. Easter Seals was awarded a Head Start Grant in 1998. This grant provides a comprehensive early childhood program to low-income children ages three through five years living in Fulton County. This program provides valuable services to children in Fulton County to ensure that they will receive all of the necessary services to prepare them for success when they reach school age. Without healthier and better educated children, and stronger and more self-sufficient families, Georgia will have a significant competive disadvantage. We know the prescription for success. Let's give our youngest citizens the tools the need to succeed by providing them with a Head Start. |
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