Christina is four years old. Her mother never had the opportunity to finish high school, she dropped out in 8th Grade, Christina’s parents are both on disability due to health issues and Christina herself was born with medical problems which impacted her speech. Christina is currently in her second year at the Head Start pre-school in San Luis Obispo and is blossoming. So is her mother.

Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County operates the Head Start and Early Head Start programs available throughout the County. The over-arching goal of the Head Start programs is to increase school-readiness of young children in low-income families via its pre-schools located throughout the County. Every year, Head Start and Early Head Start provide services at absolutely no cost to approximately 700 children from birth to five years old.

Elizabeth Clanin, Christina’s mom, explained that her daughter barely talked when she started at the Head Start pre-school. As soon as Christina began attending the pre-school, Head Start professional staff evaluated Christina’s needs and arranged to have her attend speech therapy twice a week. “Her sentences now blow me away!” says Clanin.

But not only is Christina now on track to becoming ready for Kindergarten, her mother has become a very engaged volunteer with Head Start as the Vice President and representative of its San Luis Obispo Policy Council. The Policy Council promotes the objectives of the Head Start and Early Head Start programs by engaging parents in participating in policy-making decisions for the programs.

“The teachers at Head Start told me I was a great advocate for their programs and encouraged me to become involved,” says Clanin; “I thought I had to be a college graduate to be part of the Policy Council, but I went through the training and it taught me a lot.”

Once Christina is in First Grade, Clanin is hoping to go back to school to pass her General Educational Development tests, obtain her high school diploma and eventually become a child psychologist.

Long-term studies have shown that Head Start programs result in the following educational and life outcomes: increased high school graduation rates, fewer grade repetitions, decreased need for special education classes, increased vocabulary levels, better emotional development, reduced mortality rates of children and moving families out of poverty.

Both Christina and her mom seem to be a living testimony to these studies. “I’ve realized we are the most important person in our child’s life,” says Clanin.

For more information about this press release please contact Judy Mahan, Community Action Partnership Communications Department, at (805)544-4355.

Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County is a non-profit 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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