For the first time in its 50 year history, Head Start will offer its full slate of programming for children in Hennepin County this summer.
With the pandemic restrictions being lifted, and more children joining for in-person learning this fall, Parents in Action Head Start leaders are hoping to ease classroom anxiety by helping children throughout the summer months.
Alana Charlton is enrolling her 3 year old son in Head Start Minneapolis.
"He is a very active child," she said. "He's really funny and he loves to play with other children and help out."
She admitted she's a little nervous still about the pandemic but grateful for the program.
"I just hope that what he gets out of the program is he gets a chance to grow and learn and meet new people because I do believe it takes a village to raise children."
Tyanna Bryant is a long-time member of the Parents in Action Community Head Start. She has six sons.
"So it means a lot for them to be able to come here and to get the opportunities that they deserve. It means a lot to me for them to have the same chances that others have, no matter their skin color, with no limits to it."
The program was established in 1969 and has provided services to low-income families, pregnant women, infants, toddlers and preschoolers for more than 50 years.
Minneapolis director Rico Alexander says the program helps change the economic trajectory of the families they work with by taking a two-generational approach.
Providing education and workforce development to parents is the best start they can offer a child.
"You can have the highest quality program, but without training parents and helping them along the way, no matter what you do with the child, it can go by the wayside if they are going home to an environment that is not conducive to continuous learning."
Parents actually created the Parents in Community Action Head Start program in Minneapolis more than 50 years ago.
"It was parents who said I want to be more involved in the development of my child," Alexander said. "Throughout the years it's been parents who have at the table to create policy and all the different and wonderful things we do here."
He said the pandemic has taught PICA that no matter the location, children love to learn and engage with their teachers and classmates.
Children are encouraged to enroll and attend classes all summer to help them get adjusted to the new normal of learning post-pandemic.