FROM THE CEO

 We are pleased to present our annual report for the fiscal year that has recently ended. Staff has worked hard this year on a variety of areas.   We have up-dated agency manuals, such as our community resources manual and the parent hand book.  Both the phone and computer infrastructure have been reworked.  We are working hard on training additional staff to have good computer skills.  Staff also is focusing on community support, which always is essential to our program, but even more so in these difficult economic times. We have revised our strategic plan and look forward to the many challenges and opportunities that are ahead.  We are very appreciative the members of our board and policy council and the guidance they give and would like to thank them for all their hard work on behalf of children and families.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Alabama Council on Human Relations, Inc. is a private non-profit organization, funded exclusively for, educational and eleemosynary (charitable) purposes.  The goal of ACHR is the promotion and implementation of programs that improve economic conditions, education and racial relationships for all people, resulting in increased self-sufficiency and overall improvement in their quality of life

AGENCY DESCRIPTION

The Alabama Council on Human Relations (ACHR), Inc., incorporated in 1954, has provided Head Start services in Lee County since 1965 and in much of rural Russell County (excluding Phenix City) since 1992.  Early Head Start is also provided in both counties. 

ACHR is a multi-purpose agency. In addition to Head Start, Early Head Start, and Family Services Centers, ACHR administers programs such as the state-wide Alabama Coalition Against Hunger. It is Lee County’s designated Community Services Block Grant program provider. It offers low-income housing at its nine housing developments in six counties, and is Community Housing Development Organization certified in 31 of Alabama’s 67 counties. It is a Department of Housing and Urban Development-certified Housing Counseling Agency. It is a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program participant. And it administers various other assistance programs in Lee County, including WIC.

Because it is widely recognized that the years from conception to age three are vital to growth and development, ACHR’s Early Head Start program, started in 1998, has become an essential part of the agency’s overall program.  Families are provided ways to enrich their child’s development and to ensure a support system for both the child and primary caregiver.   

ACHR has three centers offering Head Start services, two in Lee County and one in rural Russell County. Darden Center in Opelika is the largest center, with 12 Head Start 5 Early Head Start classrooms as well as a school aged class serving 18-20 school aged children (mostly siblings of HS/EHS children) who come for after school and summer care.  The Darden campus includes office space and a socialization area for the EHS home visitors, who serve 40 home-based infants/toddlers and pregnant women and teens. The Darden campus also includes Burton House, which is home to the Family Services Center (provides pre-GED, GED and employability skills), Darden on the Hill, which houses the Sunshine Shop (where donated goods are accepted, stored and displayed for convenient, easy access by HS/EHS families), and a CSBG services building. 

At Boykin Community Center, which is owned by the City of Auburn, ACHR has six Head Start classrooms, as well as Community Services Block Grant and WIC offices.  Boykin Center also houses several non-ACHR programs, including Joyland Day Care Center, part of Auburn Day Care Center, and a program for the elderly.

The Marian Wright Edelman Center, located in Hurtsboro in rural Russell County, houses 4 Head Start and 3 Early Head Start classrooms and home visitors for both EHS and home visitors for a group of 10 Head Start children and XX EHS children.  

In addition to those centers, ACHR has a central office building in Auburn (about a mile from Boykin Center), which provides space for administrative, fiscal, secretarial, and other agency support functions, and some auxiliary facilities, such as a garage to service agency buses.

NUMBERS FUNDED/SERVED

The ACHR-CDP is funded to serve and did serve 424 Head Start and 152 Early Head Start children in 2008-2009.  The Center based program serves 414 Head Start children (ages 3-5 years) and 10 children are served in a home based setting.  Early Head Start center based classrooms serve 64 infants and toddlers (ages 4 weeks to three years) who are the children of parents working or in school. Another 88 children and/or mothers-to- be are served in a home based setting.  Home visitors visit each parent and child once a week and together with the parent, provide the full array of Early Head Start or Head Start services.  In addition, each home visit mother and child are invited into the center once every two weeks for a “socialization” visit.  The moms have small group meetings and learn from each other; the children begin to learn to play with other children.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Medical/Dental

All of the children receive medical screenings and if needed follow-up and Head Start children receive dental exams and follow-up treatment.  We have had some problems finding enough dentists to do dental exams and treatment for children at our largest center.  For several years, children at the smaller two centers have been provided dental services by two dentists in Tuskegee Alabama.  In the 2008-2009 year, we were in the third year of a much appreciated relationship with dentists from the area dental association who provided exams for the children at our largest center.  We were in the first year of working with a dentist in Auburn and one in Opelika.  Though their efforts, we were able to see that most of the children who needed dental treatment received it.

Preparing Children for School

The 2008-2009 year was the third year of a cooperative program with the Lee County School System to provide services for children with special needs in a typically developing classroom.  All services that Lee County Schools and the ACHR-CDP provided their children were provided to the children in these two classrooms.  This setting provided this group of children with access to the special services they needed while being in a preschool environment.  We feel that it also broadened the horizons of the typically developing children who were in those classrooms.

For the past 16 years, the ACHR-CDP has used the High/Scope Curriculum in its efforts to have children ready for school.  This approach takes each child at his/her level and works to build knowledge on the child’s interest and strengths. Literacy and numeracy are embedded in children’s every day activities.  Teachers make frequent entries into each child’s Child Outcome Record (COR) in an effort to track each child’s progress and know when to help a child stretch for the next level.  In addition, considerable attention is focused on “social skills” in an effort to have the children ready to fit into a kindergarten classroom. We are pleased to be partnering with the Psychological Services Department at Auburn University in this effort.

ACHR Head Start Child Outcomes 2008-2009

Child Outcome tracking is one method the ACHR Inc. Head Start program uses to gauge effectiveness of its child development program.  Outcome data helps everyone involved in the program from families and teachers to administrators and governing boards to see the end result of the hours spent planning and implementing curriculum.

Outcome data helps the program ask itself to what degree has it 1) met its goals to enrich children’s knowledge and skills, 2) expanded their competencies, and 3) facilitated their readiness for positive experiences in school and in life. ACHR uses this data as part of its self-assessment and improvement planning processes.

In program year 2008-2009, using the High/Scope Child Observation Record © (COR) the following growth data was gathered: 

·  46.9% increase in overall developmental scores of HS children during the program year.

·  Gains as measured by COR Categories were:  

o       71.6% gain in Initiative

o       87.1% gain in Social Relations

o       91.7% gain in language and literacy

o       97.3% gain in Math and Science

o       87.1% gain in Creative Representation (drawing, painting, making/building)

o       113.9% gain in Music and Movement

o       89.3% gain in Alphabet Knowledge

o       106.8% gain in Phonemic Awareness

Below are samples of graphs generated by the COR Head Start Outcomes Software for ACHR in program year 2008-2009.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES

During the 2008-2009 year, parents were invited to quarterly parent meetings, had at least four opportunities to visit with their child’s teacher and were invited to meetings on special topics such as “Tips and Ideas for supporting Your Child’s Behavior.”          

At one time we had special funding for a program serving fathers.  Despite no longer having that funding we were able to continue to provide services for many of the fathers in the program. During the 2008-2009 year, 412 Head Start and/or Early Head Start children’s fathers or father figures came to one or more special events at the centers to meet in small groups to share information and to learn a variety of things, especially about the importance of literacy skills.  Many of them took the time to stay and read with the children in their child’s classroom.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION/FUNDING  

The Alabama Council on Human Relations, Inc. received funding from Health and Human Services in the amount of $5,798,745 to fund its Head Start and Early Head Start programs.  Funds in the amount of $396,135 were received from the US Department of Agriculture program to provide meals for children.  The City of Opelika provided $20,000 to assist with extended day/year care for children of working parents.

AUDIT RESULTS

The independent audit done on ACHR programs for the 2008-2009 year resulted in no audit findings.  During this year the triennial Head Start/Early Head Start review was done by a team of outside reviewers.  Many program strengths were noted; there were no significant findings. 

DONORS AND BENEFACTORS

 In addition, to grant funding, Federal requirements state that Head Start/Early Head Start programs must match the federal grant on an 80-20 basis. Therefore in-kind is essential to the continuation of our federal funding to allow us provide the Head Start/Early Head Start services in the community. Many generous individuals and companies have donated goods (everything from toys to cars) that have helped the program in various ways. 

Just as important are the value of and the help provided by our many volunteers.  Last year just over one thousand volunteers contributed over 44,000 hours of their time. We are very appreciative of each of our volunteers.  In particular, we would like to mention the nursing students from Auburn University who provided health/nutrition/safety education to our children, the psychological services students who provided screening and socials skills in the classroom, the local Kiwanis Clubs who provided each child with three books that were their very own - and came to read the books to the children before they proudly took the books home and an energetic youth group which came to help us clean the playgrounds.  Many individual volunteers came to assist in other ways including helping us organize the Sunshine Shop which provided donated goods to Head Start/Early Head Start families at no cost.