CSIU launches 'Early Head Start'
Larry Deklinski/Staff Photo Debroa Matter, an instructor for Sunbury Combination Program, plays with cousins Chandon Maurer, left, and Dylan Seedor at an open house and ribbon cutting at the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU) facility in Stonington on Wednesday. CSIU was awarded a two-year, approximately $2 million grant to conduct an Early Head Start program for children birth to three years of age.
Larry Deklinski/Staff Photo Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU) board members, from left, Linda Van Der Pool, Eric Rowe and Executive Director Dr. Robert Witter cut a ribbon Wednesday formally announcing the opening of an Early Head Start program at its facility in Stonington. CSIU was awarded a two-year, approximately $2 million grant to conduct an Early Head Start program for children birth to three years of age.
STONINGTON - Board members and staff of the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU) celebrated the opening of an Early Head Start program with a ribbon cutting and open house at their facility, along Route 61, Wednesday.
A Head Start program for children three to five years of age has been operated by the CSIU in Northumberland County for several years. The Early Head Start will now expand services to children birth to three years of age.
The new program is funded by a two-year, approximately $2 million grant, awarded under the federal stimulus program. It is designed to provide learning and developmental activities for children and nutrition counseling, health data tracking, parenting skills training and family guidance for their parents. The program will assist economically disadvantaged families.
The program will also collaborate with other CSIU programs and services, such as adult education, which prepares adults for GED, Parent Child Home Development, Project ELECT and Early Intervention to assist with the transition to early intervention when children reach three years.
"With this comes partnerships and being able to work with other agencies in the area," said CSIU Executive Director Dr. Robert Witter. "Children now have an opportunity that their future will be bright. In the end, that's all that matters."
CSIU provides two types of programs: home-based and combination. A home-based program involves families receiving weekly visits, while the combination program involves families meeting at the center twice a week for four hours a day and a weekly visit every other week.
The programs are free, but there are income guidelines.
For more information, visit www.CSIU.org or call 495-4411, ext. 202.
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