UW Oshkosh Head Start

About Us Mission History Program Governance Services Early Childhood Classroom Curriculum Disabilities Services Health Services Mental Health Services Nutrition Service Family Service Families Parent Involvement Community Partnerships Register for 2009/2010 school year Income Guidelines Staff Employment Opportunities Contacts Contact Us Locations Links UW Oshkosh UW Oshkosh Titan Mail UW Oshkosh - College of Education & Human Services National Head Start Association Wisconsin Head Start Association	University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Head Start A Short History: UW Oshkosh Head Start is a program rich with history and highly acclaimed with success. Of all the programs of the 1960’s War on Poverty, Head Start has been one of the most successful and is the most long-lived. Launched as an eight-week summer program, Project Head Start was designed to intervene in the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children of low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs. Early in 1965, Sargent Shriver, the founding director of the Peace Corps, assembled an interdisciplinary group of recognized professionals who would, within six weeks, formulate the outline of a preschool program. The committee took its responsibility seriously and created a program of unprecedented breadth and depth. On May 18, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson, announced that the services to be provided that summer to more than one half million poor children would insure that “poverty’s children would not forevermore be poverty’s captives.” That it would be comprehensive and involve the parents of the children, were the two critical conditions of this new initiative. In the years since its inception, communities have changed, families have changed, programs have changed, but those conditions have not changed. The comprehensive nature has only grown and parent involvement is even more important now than it ever was. Head Start now serves nearly one million low income children in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories. It is a program of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, in the Department of Health and Human Services and operates by federal law. 1967: UW Oshkosh Head Start began under the direction of Shirley Williams and served 50 children with eight staff people and a budget of less than $50,000. Classes were held in the basement of Swart campus school. 1970s: The first expansions. The class at Swart moved upstairs. The Neenah center opened in 1974. Joyce Wilcox, the longest serving director to date, opened the Appleton and Shawano centers in 1978 and the total population served that year was 165. 1980s: The Oshkosh classes moved to Peace Lutheran church and the offices were moved to Gruenhagen Conference center. 1990s: The program more than doubled in size. Home-based programs begin in Calumet and Outagamie counties and a center opened in Menasha in 1990. An additional 22 children were served beginning in 1991, with State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Funds. A family service center project, started in 1992, added more family services and staff; and the program expanded into Kaukauna. Over the next few years, additional sites opened in both Appleton and Oshkosh. Another expansion came in Seymour in 1994. The administrative offices and four classes were moved to our present site at the Joyce Wilcox Center in the fall of 1995. 2000 forward: Extended day programming began in 2001 at the Plamann Center Child Care Learning Center to assist employed parents with childcare. Additional extended programming was added in 2002 in the Appleton area particularly for children with Limited English Proficiency. Each area UW Oshkosh Head Start serves now provides at least one extended day classroom. 2008: Three child care collaborations sites in Appleton, Oshkosh and Shawano. There are also ongoing public school collaborations and more in progress. Between Oshkosh and Menasha, we currently serve nearly 90 children with 4K programming. © 2008 MIS Team of UWO Head Start Program

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Head Start

A Short History:

UW Oshkosh Head Start is a program rich with history and highly acclaimed with success. Of all the programs of the 1960’s War on Poverty, Head Start has been one of the most successful and is the most long-lived. Launched as an eight-week summer program, Project Head Start was designed to intervene in the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children of low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs.

Early in 1965, Sargent Shriver, the founding director of the Peace Corps, assembled an interdisciplinary group of recognized professionals who would, within six weeks, formulate the outline of a preschool program. The committee took its responsibility seriously and created a program of unprecedented breadth and depth. On May 18, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson, announced that the services to be provided that summer to more than one half million poor children would insure that “poverty’s children would not forevermore be poverty’s captives.” That it would be comprehensive and involve the parents of the children, were the two critical conditions of this new initiative.

In the years since its inception, communities have changed, families have changed, programs have changed, but those conditions have not changed. The comprehensive nature has only grown and parent involvement is even more important now than it ever was. Head Start now serves nearly one million low income children in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories. It is a program of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, in the Department of Health and Human Services and operates by federal law.

1967: UW Oshkosh Head Start began under the direction of Shirley Williams and served 50 children with eight staff people and a budget of less than $50,000. Classes were held in the basement of Swart campus school.
1970s: The first expansions. The class at Swart moved upstairs. The Neenah center opened in 1974. Joyce Wilcox, the longest serving director to date, opened the Appleton and Shawano centers in 1978 and the total population served that year was 165.
1980s: The Oshkosh classes moved to Peace Lutheran church and the offices were moved to Gruenhagen Conference center.
1990s: The program more than doubled in size. Home-based programs begin in Calumet and Outagamie counties and a center opened in Menasha in 1990. An additional 22 children were served beginning in 1991, with State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Funds. A family service center project, started in 1992, added more family services and staff; and the program expanded into Kaukauna. Over the next few years, additional sites opened in both Appleton and Oshkosh. Another expansion came in Seymour in 1994. The administrative offices and four classes were moved to our present site at the Joyce Wilcox Center in the fall of 1995.
2000 forward: Extended day programming began in 2001 at the Plamann Center Child Care Learning Center to assist employed parents with childcare. Additional extended programming was added in 2002 in the Appleton area particularly for children with Limited English Proficiency. Each area UW Oshkosh Head Start serves now provides at least one extended day classroom.
2008: Three child care collaborations sites in Appleton, Oshkosh and Shawano. There are also ongoing public school collaborations and more in progress. Between Oshkosh and Menasha, we currently serve nearly 90 children with 4K programming.