CSC Head Start Celebrating Head Start Awareness Month – 50 Years of Opportunity

October marks Head Start Awareness Month, and this year also marks Head Start’s 50th anniversary. Head Start locations around the country are celebrating, including Community Services Consortium’s (CSC) Head Start locations in Lincoln County.

Teacher Saka Coy sings with children on Button Day

 On Friday, October 24, CSC Head Start locations participated  in “Button Day,” where staff, students, parents and community partners wore buttons in support of Head Start. It was a fun day and a great reminder of the important work being done at Head Start locally and nationally today and for the past fifty years.

“The buttons say “Head Start Works,” and every day we see that it does—both for growing and learning children and their families, who also receive our support, referrals, partnership and our friendship.  Our community partners help make our Head Start a true success,” shared Suzanne Miller, Director of CSC Lincoln County Head Start.

Suzanne Miller with
Reverend Dr. Paul Hayden

Community partners in attendance included Reverend Dr. Paul Hayden, the new reverend at the Chapel by the Sea Presbyterian Church. The church has been a generous and committed supporter of Head Start, hosting an annual luncheon for Head Start Lincoln County staff, giving the children holiday gifts, and giving backpacks with school supplies at the end for the school year for children needing supplies for kindergarten. 

“Their support, care, and compassion in action has been a real inspiration!” said Miller.

CSC Head Start provides a free preschool education to Lincoln County children ages three to five years old, offering a nurturing learning environment that includes parents as important resources for their children’s learning.

Head Start has locations in Lincoln City, Newport, and Toledo. Head Start focuses on the “whole child” and includes the child’s educational, health, family, and social needs.

CSC Head Start’s educational program is designed to foster intellectual, social, and emotional growth. It meets the needs of each child and is sensitive to the child’s cultural identity, as well as any health or academic challenges.

Head Start staff on Button Day

CSC’s Head Start program doesn’t just focus on education, it also emphasizes the importance of the early identification of health concerns that might get in the way of a child’s success. Every child has a comprehensive health screening, which includes immunizations; medical, dental and mental health assessments; and nutritional needs.

For more information, call or stop by the following CSC Head Start locations:

Lincoln City: 2130 SE Lee Avenue, 541-996-3028
Toledo: 845 NW “A” Street , 541-336-5113
Newport: 253 NE 1st Street, 541-574-7690

To show your support for Head Start, please visit www.communityservices.us and click the “Donate” button or call Dee Teem at 541-574-2277.

Federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Season Opening Soon

Community Services Consortium (CSC) administers LIHEAP for Benton, Lincoln, and Linn Counties, and this year’s LIHEAP season is opening soon. LIHEAP provides funding to assist low-income households with heating bills during the winter months. Households with gross monthly incomes of less than 60% of the State Median Income are eligible to apply. State Median Income is $1792.16 for a single household and $3446.41 for a four-person household.

Appointments for seniors and individuals with disabilities will begin November 1, 2014, and appointments for the general public will begin December 1, 2014. To schedule an appointment, please call:

• Benton County: 541-752-2840
• Lincoln County: 541-265-3293
• Linn County: 541-926-7163

For years, Community Services Consortium has helped local low-income residents to keep the lights on and their families warm during the winter months as part of their mission to end poverty in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties. Some consequences of unaffordable heating costs include:

• Hunger and malnutrition increases when people are forced to choose between heating and eating.
• Personal health suffers as people are not able to fill prescriptions, must skip or reduce their medications, or go without needed medical or dental care.
• Seniors, people with disabilities or medical conditions, and small children are put at risk of hypothermia.
• Health and safety is endangered by people using alternate heat or light sources such as kerosene heaters, candles, lanterns, fireplaces or charcoal briquettes.
• Evictions increase and more people become homeless. Many never regain their housing and children leave school.
• Loss of utility service contributes to children going into foster care, as living without utility service is considered neglect.
• People in subsidized housing risk losing their housing voucher if their power is shut off.

During the 2013-2014 LIHEAP season, CSC served 5,283 households in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties. The following is an overview of the households served last year.

Total energy payments: $1,598,021.69 (4.5% decrease over 12-13)
Total served: 5,283 Households (10% decrease over 12-13) including 13,106 individuals (7% decrease over 12-13)

• Benton County – 1,006 unduplicated households served
• Lincoln County – 1,129 unduplicated households served
• Linn County – 3,148 unduplicated households served

Of the 5,283 households served:

• 1,543 households with at least one member who is a senior
• 1,932 households with at least one member who is disabled
• 1,067 households with at least one child under the age of 6 years old
• 506 households with at least one member who is a veteran
• 829 households headed by a single female parent
• 84 households headed by a single male parent
• 65% (or 3,455 households) earned less than 100% of the Federal Poverty Level
• 48% of the households served were at risk of having their heat turned off.

Community Services Consortium (CSC) is a state-designated Community Action Agency serving Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties with housing, nutrition, economic stability, and educational assistance programs since 1980.

To support this program or any of CSC’s poverty-fighting programs and services, visit our website at www.communityservices.us. Donations may be made through our website or mailed to our main office: Community Services Consortium, 245 Broadalbin Street, Suite 2A, Albany, OR 97321.