Mission and Eligibility

Migrant & Seasonal Head Start® is a federally funded program to provide comprehensive Head Start® services, including child   development, social and health services to low income families working in agriculture, or families who migrate for the purpose of working in agriculture.

Migrant farm worker families have changed residence from one geographic location to another in search of agricultural work that involves the production and harvesting of tree and field crops within the last 24 month period. Crops range from low-growing, root vegetables to tree fruits. Seasonal farm worker families are engaged primarily in seasonal agricultural labor, and have not changed their residence from another geographic location in the preceding 2 year period. To qualify for entry into the program, families must meet the following criteria.

• Income below the federal poverty level
• Majority income generated from work in agriculture
• Entire family must have either 1) if migrant, changed residence (moved) in search of agricultural work within the last 24 month period, or 2) if seasonal, engaged in seasonal agricultural labor and not changed their residence to another geographic location in the preceding 2 years.
• In Utah, children must be at least six weeks old to five years of age; at least 90% of the enrolled children must be from low income families and additional services are offered to children with special needs.

Outcomes

Children participating in Centro's Head Start® programsexperience an average 30% to 40% increase in learning outcomes over the course of just seven months, both in the Regional and the Migrant and Seasonal programs.

Every Head Start® program in Utah, serving children 3-5 years of age, implements a child assessment system that gathers data on children's progress in numerous domains of learning and development. Head Start® Child Outcomes are collected at the local program level to allow flexibility and alignment with their curriculum and to inform and improve classroom practice as it works best for their individual program. This information indicates what Head Start children are able to do now and their potential for future K-12 success.