Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County’s Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program is a school readiness childcare program for children ages zero to five whose families are low-income and earn the majority of their income from agricultural production and harvesting work. The program works with families by operating seasonally to meet their needs as they harvest our region’s fruits and vegetables. The program is bilingual and comprehensive – offering adults, as well as children, the opportunities to learn and grow. Head Start centers and family child care homes offer continuous child care Monday through Friday for between 8 and 10 hours a day in order to best accommodate the long hours associated with agricultural work. Parents have access to centers and family child care program options close to where they live and work.

Head Start focuses on the identity of the families served.  For instance, teachers have sent home art supplies to the parents asking them to draw paintings of where they work and the crops they harvest to communicate better with their children.  The participation from families was well received; several parents submitted colorful paintings of the produce they harvest and some parents even presented their paintings to the toddler class.  Through this activity, Head Start staff was able to understand the diversity of work done by children’s parents like Jhonnatan’s family work with grapes. Staff learned that his father has been working with grapes for 10 years trimming and cutting and that his mother worked through 3 seasons by picking. Other families work in lettuce growing and harvesting like Kaitlyn’s family. Her father cuts and packages lettuce and transports it on a tractor while his wife also cuts lettuce and removes weeds in the crops; both have been working for 12 years.

To communicate the work of migrant parents to their children, teachers also visited the parents’ workplace to take photos of their work environment.  Teachers posted these photos in their classroom and asked the children if they were able to identify their parents and what produce they work with.  While some children did not know of their parents’ work, teachers encouraged them to question them at home.  Since then, teachers noticed an ongoing dialogue between the children and their parents, in which parents felt valued for the work that they do and proud to explain their work to their children.  These two activities brought to light the value of children honoring and respecting the work of their parents.

Teachers also planned for an activity that engaged the children’s ability to identify where their parents work by making grapes out of clay and had children explain what type of work their parents do.  Zitlali, a preschooler pointed out to her teacher that her mother works with grapes and when asked about what type of work her mother does, she said “corta uvas” translating to “she cuts grapes.”  Enthusiastic students like Zitlali that participate actively in class allow for social and cognitive development that the Head Start program aims to achieve through various lesson plans surrounding major themes such as focusing on the identity of families served.

Family education and engagement groups are offered throughout all eight California counties where Community Action Partnership manages Head Start programs as a way to build parenting skills and confidence. Children learn to be self-directed, to interact in group settings, and to be accepting of the ethnic, cultural, and individual differences in people. Head Start provides migrant and seasonal children learning environments and experiences that enable them to solve problems, initiate activities, explore, question, and gain mastery through learning by doing. Nonetheless, through careful planning, the training and retention of qualified staff, collaborative service delivery, shared governance, and the continuous exchange of ideas across counties, Community Action Partnership’s Head Start program truly gives the children of migrant and seasonal farm workers skills for school-readiness and life-long success!

Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County is a nonprofit agency that focuses on helping people and changing lives through serving nearly 40,000 persons across Central and Southern California. We are committed to eliminate poverty by empowering individuals and families to achieve economic self-sufficiency and self-determination through a comprehensive array of community-based programs.

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