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Community Outreach
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Region IV Head Start Association, Inc.
On Tuesday, February 5, 2008, ten members of SEAF contributed their time and talents at one of the two Community Outreach Projects that are conducted in conjunction with the 2008 IAFNA Atlanta conference.
Jayne Wallace, CPF, and Linda Duncan organized the event. Jayne serves on the 2008 IAFNA Conference Local Support VAT and Linda serves on the Local Support VAT and the Overall Conference Planning Team.
Susan Peryam, the IAFNA Conference Chairperson, volunteered to be the lead facilitator and Martha McGinnis offered herself as the graphic facilitator.
SEAF President and Conference Local Marketing Lead, Gloria Pursell participated, as well.
Linda Duncan & Susan Peryam
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Founded in 1986, the Region IV Head Start Association, Inc. (RIVHSA) is a membership organization that provides a regional forum for the continued enhancement of the status of Head Start and Early Head Start children, families, staff and programs throughout our eight member states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The vision is that all Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Region IV will provide quality, comprehensive services to children and families.
The 2008 Annual Training Conference was held February 4-7, 2008 at the Atlanta Hilton and Towers. The conference is the premier education and networking gathering of the regional Head Start community (8 southeastern states) attracting more than 800 attendees each year and offering more than 65 educational sessions addressing legislative issues, early care and education, intervention and prevention strategies, as well as quality initiatives and practices. Participants gain insight from distinguished keynote and other featured speakers and enjoy engaging special events and networking opportunities. There is also a lively exhibit marketplace showcasing resources and products by some of the leading companies in the early care and education industry.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- Initiate discussions among members around membership, training, outreach and succession planning.
- Utilize facilitators to lead these large group discussions to maximize idea generation in a short time span.
- Design a scalable process – one that works for an undefined quantity of participants, up to 100.
- Give participants in the sessions a highly interactive experience.
Group interacting
RESPONSE FROM RIVHSA
On behalf of the Board of Directors for the Region IV Head Start Association (RIVHSA), I extend our appreciation to the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) and the Southeast Association of Facilitators (SEAF) who volunteered their professional services at our 2008 Annual Training Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, the week of February 4th.
The IAF and SEAF facilitators assisted groups in the discussion of succession planning in their local Head Start programs. The session generated interest in the subject and hopefully motivated many to begin the process when they returned to the agencies.
RIVHSA will use the data collected in the session to identify training opportunities to offer to our regional Head Start community within the next 12-18 months to meet their planning and implementation needs with regards to the topic. Our next conference is a Leadership Institute for Executive Management in June 2008.
We will be diligently working to develop a training session around the topic area that addresses the specific challenges and best practices identified in the roundtable discussion. The Head Start group leader for that discussion group was Kim Rainey, a Georgia Technical Assistance Specialist with the Region IV TA Network (STG International). It is likely that, at a minimum, the Region IV TA Network will use the data to develop technical assistance guides for Head Start programs throughout the region.
Again, we thank you for your support and look forward to collaborating with you in the future.
Ms. Myra Ingram
Executive Officer
Region IV Head Start Association, Inc.
Enjoying the process
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