Dear colleagues:

Late last month, Dr. Deborah Bergeron, the Director of the Office of Head Start (OHS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced a new national campaign called "Home at Head Start". This campaign aims to boost the enrollment of children and families experiencing homelessness in Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) Programs, with the goal of enrolling 10,000 homeless families by the end of March.

Given this new opportunity to increase access to early childhood development supports for young children experiencing homelessness and holistic supports for these children's families, NCHE suggests the following action steps:

• REACH OUT: School districts or local service providers - reach out to your local EHS or HS program to inquire about program vacancies that could be filled by families experiencing homelessness. Locate contact information for local EHS/HS programs at https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/center-locator. State Coordinators for Homeless Education and state-level service provider administrators - Reach out to your Head Start State Collaboration Director to discuss how state-level efforts might support greater EHS/HS access for families experiencing homelessness. Visit  https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/programs/head-start-collaboration-offices-state for state collaboration director contact information.
• DISCUSS AND LEVERAGE: After reaching out to your local or state EHS/HS counterpart, discuss how the required and recommended practices included in the Head Start Act and Regulations will be leveraged to increase EHS/HS access for homeless families moving forward. Learn more at  https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/hs-final-regs-sept2016-homeless-1.pdf (NCHE's summary of Head Start Regulations) or  https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/family-support-well-being/article/supporting-children-families-experiencing-homelessness (OHS' 8-module training course on supporting homeless families in EHS/HS programs).
• MAKE USE OF NEW RESOURCES: Check out new resources on familiy and early childhood homelessness from Sesame Street at https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/family-homelessness/. In December 2018, Sesame Street introduced viewers to Lily, a young muppet experiencing homelessness with her family. Sesame Street provides free bilingual resources on homelessness for families in homeless situations and the providers who serve them.

NCHE thanks the Office of Head Start for its intentional focus on families experiencing homelessness. We encourage you to leverage the opportunity provided by the Home at Head Start campaign to reach across the aisle to your cross-systems partners to increase EHS/HS access for homeless families.

Best regards,

Christina Dukes, Federal Liaison
National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE)