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Early Head Start Program begins at Hilltop
LFCS Partners with Youth In Need in the Early Head Start Expansion Grant
St. Louis, Missouri (May 25, 2016) – Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri (LFCS) is proud to be a partnering site for the Youth In Need early Head Start Child Care Partnership and Early Head Start Expansion Grant. This grant allows LFCS’ Hilltop Child Care Center to expand and serve up to 16 infants and toddlers in St. Louis City and County beginning June 6, 2016.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to serve infants and toddlers at our Center,” said Julie Aitken, Hilltop Director. “Our mission is to support and strengthen families, and this enhancement to our Child Care Center is no exception. We are here for the families in the city and county who need quality, affordable care while they are working and /or going to school.”
The 1994 reauthorization of the Head Start Act established Early Head Start as a program for low-income families with infants and toddlers and pregnant women. Research and practice indicates that the time from conception to age 3 is critical for human development and, for infants and toddlers to develop optimally, they must have healthy beginnings and the continuity of responsive and caring relationships.
Early Head Start programs, like Hilltop, provide family-centered, full-day, full-year services designed to promote the development of the youngest children; to engage parents in their roles as primary caregivers and teachers of their children; and to help parents move toward self-sufficiency.
About Hilltop Child Development Center
Hilltop Child Development Center is owned and operated by Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri. Both state licensed and NAEYC accredited, the Center provides quality and affordable child care services and school readiness to children ages 6 weeks to 12 years. Since 1968, Hilltop has provided children with a wide variety of basic skills that prepare them for success in elementary school and placed a strong value on developing good self-esteem, verbal and creative expressiveness, assertiveness and a sense of personal responsibility that is age appropriate.
About LFCS
LFCS, a proud member of the United Way, is a statewide agency with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, five regional offices and numerous satellite counseling sites. LFCS serves families, children and individuals from all walks of life in their greatest times of need. Services are open to anyone regardless of race, faith, national origin, gender, or age. As a nonprofit social services organization, its goal is to open doors for people who are challenged by poverty, unexpected pregnancy, violence, divorce, unemployment, illness, homelessness and more. LFCS provides four key areas of support to tackle these challenges – Child Welfare, Mental Health Services, Child and Teen Development, and Disaster Services. The programs offered through each of these areas empower individuals and families and seek to develop healthy, supportive foundations for a lifetime. The staff delivers professionalism and personal care in equal measure to every situation and each client who visits one of the five offices around the state of Missouri. Everything LFCS does integrates with the community to enrich and heal the lives of people with the expectation that troubled individuals find hope and realize that tomorrow can be different than today. For more information, call 314-754-2785, email Megan Nichols.