Ilda wanted her 3-year-old son to start a pre-school program near their home in Hanover — so she started with a simple Google search: What programs are available?
“I thought Head Start was only in York, but I saw they had something in Hanover as well,” she says.
When she connected with Community Progress Council, Ilda enrolled her son into the Head Start classroom. With his first year winding down, Ilda has already seen changes in her son.
“He wouldn’t say much before he started school, but he’s been more talkative,” she says, focusing on his new words and increased language skills. “He’s still very shy, but he’s coming more out of his shell.”
Having been diagnosed with severe anxiety, her son has also benefited from Head Start’s Positive Behavior Intervention & Supports, Inclusion, and other supports, including a partnership with the Lincoln Intermediate Unit to provide in-classroom services that don’t require a family to travel for an outside appointment.
Through the program’s whole-family approach, Ilda also connected with a Family Coach, someone who could help her reach her own goals in employment and budgeting. As a stay-at-home mom for two years, Ilda had been challenged to re-enter the workforce in a meaningful way. Working as a delivery driver proved unreliable, so Ilda pivoted to working through a temp agency locally to find a role that would better support her family: Her husband, son, and their infant.
First as a temp and now as a full-time operator in a factory setting, Ilda is continuing to work with her coach on finding a role more suited to her degree and past experience in accounting and finances.
At the same time, her coach has helped her connect to Community Progress Council’s Housing & Financial Education program to focus on repairing her credit and building additional budgeting skills.
“[My coach] has been very helpful in finding resources that I need,” Ilda says — first for basic needs like food, and then additional supports as she continues taking different trainings and building her workforce skills. “Being able to care for my family, knowing that my kids will be able to have shelter, food at the table, that’s my motivation.”