Head Start class starts in housing complex

From the outside, the four-plexes on Afternoon Circle look the same. But in two of the units, you won't find the usual sofas, beds and televisions.

Inside those two units, about a dozen young children are learning letter sounds, singing songs about the days of the week and practicing writing their names.

It's a Head Start classroom, the first in the Pikes Peak area to operate in a housing complex, and it comes courtesy of a joint effort between the Community Partnership for Child Development and the Housing Authority of the city of Colorado Springs.

Officials hope it will help families ease their children's transition from home to school and give parents another way to prepare students for kindergarten.

Instead of school being a strange, faraway place, it's a comfortable setting near home, said teacher Heidi Cole. And the renovated apartment units have cozy nooks so the classroom isn't a big, open space like most school classrooms are, Cole said.

"It's more of a home environment," she said.

There's also hope that having a Head Start class in the midst of where people live will get more parents involved in their children's education. But the classroom opened less than two months ago - not long enough to tell if more parents are getting involved, or if having the classroom in the neighborhood will make for easier home visits, said Cole.

Educating parents is a part of the Head Start program. If someone learns parenting skills and how to be involved in a student's life, it benefits the whole family, said Noreen Landis-Tyson, president and CEO of Community Partnership for Child Development.

The idea of a partnership between CPCD and the Housing Authority, which provides subsidized housing to those who qualify, started several years ago. The location for the Head Start program was suggested because it's near other Housing Authority homes, Landis-Tyson said. The site also had two vacant units on the ground floor with parking and a fenced backyard - all requirements for a Head Start classroom.

Most of the renovation costs for the classroom were picked up by the Housing Authority, which owns the space near Chelton Road and Fountain Boulevard, Landis-Tyson said. Head Start bought much of the equipment and furniture, and a foundation paid for a playground.

Head Start classrooms are made up of 3- to 5-yearolds, so teachers work with a range of abilities. The goal is to make sure students are ready for kindergarten.

Although none of the current students is from the cluster of four-plexes that houses the classroom, residents have been stopping by to ask questions and find out about enrollment, Cole said.

She expects to enroll more students from nearby homes and complexes as current students graduate from the program and head to elementary school.

Families who qualify for Head Start are often juggling a lot of responsibilities, Landis-Tyson said. But with a Head Start classroom in their neighborhood, "they don't have to worry abut the high price of gas. They don't have to worry about getting on a bus," she said.

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