Welcome to Head Start!
Lakewood Economic Action Program, Inc. (L.E.A.P., Inc.) has been providing comprehensive child development services to preschoolers and their families since the Head Start program was originally launched in 1965. In 1999, an Early Head Start grant enabled us to expand our services to include pregnant women and families with children birth – 3 years old.
The purpose of Early Head Start and Head Start is to:
- enhance physical, social, emotional and cognitive development in young children;
- encourage and support parents in becoming more responsive caregivers;
- train teachers to be more developmentally appropriate in their planning of curricula and overall care giving styles;
- assist parents in meeting their own goals, including that of economic independence.
L.E.A.P., Inc. Early Head Start offers home-based services. In this option, a Home Visitor makes a minimum 90-minute visit per week to each child’s family or two 60-minute visits per month to each expectant mother. Group socialization activities are also held regularly to bring families together.
L.E.A.P., Inc. Head Start is a Delegate of O.C.E.A.N., Inc. and offers center-based services.
- L.E.A.P., Inc. Head Start 30 E. 8th Street Location offers three different sessions: morning, afternoon, and full-day. To be eligible for the full-day session at this site, each parent in the home must be employed or in school, or special family circumstances must be documented that justify the need for a full-day placement.
- L.E.A.P., Inc. Head Start 999 Airport Road Location offers a full day 30-hour week.
