Celebrating Excellence in Head Start on the Red Carpet

NHSA’s Scholarship & Award Winners Recognized at the National Head Start Conference

Every year, the National Head Start Association asks its members to tell them about the parents, staff, and programs that represent the best and brightest among the Head Start community. Nominations for the NHSA’s Scholarships and Awards recognize national excellence in Head Start staff, teachers, and parents from across the country. Members of NHSA’s board choose top nominees with awards named in honor of Edward Zigler, Aubrey Puckett, Ron Herndon, and Sargent Shriver — all Head Start icons whose vision and leadership has laid the foundation for this life-changing program, which has enriched the lives of more than 36 million children and their families.

On the evening of May 1st in San Antonio, the national Head Start community gathered to celebrate this year’s four national winners at the 2019 annual National Head Start Conference. This red carpet affair was sponsored by School Outfitters. Designed with input from Head Start students, Tom Brennan, School Outfitters, CEO hosted what is now referred to as the Academy Awards of Head Start. NHSA’s Ashton Pellom and Taylor Bohn kicked off the night in style with red carpet interviews with the awardees.

The Edward Zigler Innovation Award

The first award celebrated was the Edward Zigler Innovation Award, which honors Head Start programs for demonstrating the integrated, collective approach of Head Start by developing unique and impactful partnerships that engage their community in serving Head Start children and families.

Pocono Services for Families and Children Executive Director Tim Lee accepted the 2019 Edward Zigler Innovation Award at the ceremony. PSFC was recognized for its efforts to better reach people in their rural Pennsylvania community by opening The Mountain Center, a facility housing several Head Start classrooms and more than a dozen vital community health and human services agencies all under one roof.

The Mountain Center co-locates partners who can provide Head Start families and other vulnerable community members with necessary services like a food pantry, a summer meal program, housing support from Habitat for Humanity, nutrition assistance from WIC/Maternal and Family Health Services, constituent services information from local elected officials, and counseling for victims of domestic and sexual abuse. The Center also hosts sessions offering aid to the homeless, guidance on job searches, classes on learning English as a second language, and support for women starting their own businesses.

One of those partners commented, in a letter of support for the nomination, that “Before The Mountain Center, families would need to travel over 20 miles to access any county services — for those without access to their own transportation this was very difficult if not impossible.” Today, nearly 17,000 community members a year access services at the Center, and the partnership, innovation, and collaboration is improving lives every day.

The Sargent Shriver Excellence in Community Service Award

The Sargent Shriver Excellence in Community Service Award is given each year by NHSA to an individual or program in celebration of a significant achievement in Head Start and Early Head Start through innovative community service. Awardees have demonstrated excellence in addressing issues of poverty, early education, or community health.

Ruth Rucker, the 2019 Shriver Award recipient who was honored post mortem, established the Edward C. Mazique Parent Child Center in Washington, D.C. in 1968, and the program remains a vital part of the community to this day. Called by many the “Mother of Early Head Start in the District, she grew D.C.’s first Parent Child Center from a solely home-based program with an annual budget of $175,000 to a $2.5 million operation with a state-of-the-art, newly constructed 30,000 square foot child development center and several satellite centers. She was also a key proponent of legislation establishing infant centers across the District — including in public high schools — and partnered with Howard University Hospital to establish the first medical suite on-site at a child development center in D.C.

In nominating the 2019 winner for the Shriver Award, Dr. Habib Shariat, a pediatrician who worked with her for decades wrote, “She was ahead of her time in understanding the intersections between education and health long before it was in vogue to address it, particularly when discussing low-income communities of color. She fully understood that her vision of bringing early learning programs to the District was also a step towards health justice.”

Almeta Keys, the current chief executive officer of the Mazique Parent Child Center accepted the award on her behalf and said, “Her original approach to leadership was through invigorating other individuals as the future leaders….We realize that in order for us all to uphold her vision we must lead as she did, and help to collaborate with other leaders and make the work about the vision as opposed to ourselves.”

The Ron Herndon Head Start Parent Scholarship

The Ron Herndon Head Start Parent Scholarship was created to honor past NHSA Board Chair Ron Herndon’s tireless efforts championing Head Start parents. The scholarship is given each year to celebrate a Head Start parent whose efforts to mobilize other parents and community members have initiated positive change in their local Head Start programs and communities.

This year’s winner was Amy (Bohler) Hurley, a Head Start volunteer and mother who serves on the Parent Committee at SHARE Head Start in Greenville, SC, and is currently pursuing an associate degree in early care and education.

In addition to volunteering nearly 100 hours in Head Start classrooms and serving as vice president of the Parent Committee, she has been an active member of her college’s Early Childhood Development Club and serves on her community’s First Steps Advisory Board. After she completes her associate degree, she plans to pursue her bachelor’s degree and then work for a Head Start program.

In her application, this extraordinary Head Start parent said, “I want to see a difference in the children that I work with. My mission is to be, at the very least, that one person who encourages, uplifts, and motivates a child to reach his or her fullest potential. Teaching a child to learn facts is great, but teaching him or her to fall in love with learning is the key to continual success for years to come.”

The Aubrey Puckett Memorial Award

The final award of the evening was the Aubrey Puckett Memorial Award, which celebrates a Head Start alum — either a parent or a child — who is now working for a Head Start or Early Head Start program and demonstrates a passion for serving Head Start families through advocacy, career growth, and being actively involved in their program, community, or at the state or national level.

The 2019 Puckett Award winner was Dorothy Frederick, a Head Start mother and staff member from Colorado Springs, Colorado. She currently serves as the Curriculum, Instruction and Training Coordinator with Head Start grantee Community Partnership for Child Development and the proud mother of two Head Start graduates, who are now successful adults.

Her journey with Head Start began more than two decades ago, when she enrolled her son in her local program and began volunteering in the classroom. She credits the Head Start teachers and family advocate for giving her the resources and support she needed to escape an abusive marriage and find a safe place for her and her children to live. Once her personal life was stable, she gained the confidence to apply for a position as a classroom aide in CPCD Head Start and enrolled in the CDA program. With the support of her Head Start community, she went on to earn her Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and then Master’s degrees, all while building her career in early childhood education.

She is now known throughout the state as an expert in curricula, combining her experience as a parent, educator, and trainer to design curriculum training and assessment programs that empower teaching staff to deliver evidence-based, individualized instruction. She is also an influential voice at the state and federal level, advocating with legislators for high-quality early learning and policy reform.

In applying for the Puckett Award, tonight’s winner wrote, “Head Start changed my family’s life. Without the two-generation support my children and I received all those years ago, I can only imagine (and shudder with dread) where we could be today. Instead, I have had the opportunity to develop a meaningful career, with 22 years working with Community Partnership for Child Development, and my two boys have grown up to be happy, successful, hard-working members of society with great careers.”

Recognizing Committed NHSA Staff

Damon Carson, the current Board President of the National Head Start Association joined Tom on stage for a special — and surprise — presentation. NHSA has several staff members who have been with the small-but-mighty team for many years. NHSA is very lucky to have Senior Director of Technology Gregg Porter, who has served the Head Start community for more than 20 years in a number of important roles at NHSA. Senior Director of Government Affairs Tommy Sheridan and Executive Director Yasmina Vinci were also honored for their 10 years of service with NHSA. Damon and the NHSA team were very excited to celebrate these individuals for their hard work and dedication on this special evening.

A Final Surprise — School Outfitters Sends Attendee on Cruise!

The evening of surprises did not end there — Tom Brennan of School Outfitters amazed the audience with one more trick up his sleeve. One lucky attendee won an all-expenses-paid, 4-night cruise for two to the Bahamas!

NHSA was proud to partner with School Outfitters for this spectacular celebration. Guests loved the VIP treatment and showed once again that Head Start likes to celebrate in style. Click here to see more photos from the event!