Skip ACF Banner and navigation
Department of Health and Human Services logo
Questions?  
Privacy  
Site Index  
ACF Home | ACF Services | Working with ACF | ACF Policy/Planning | About ACF | ACF News ACF Search  
Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services
Early Head Start National Resource Center at Zero to Three Home Page
About Us: EHS NRC services
EHS Program Locator: Search for EHS programs by state, city, or region
EHS Consultant Directory
EHS NRC Products and Publications: Technical Assistance Papers, Consumer's Guide to Professional Development Resources, and EHS Program Strategies
Activities
Program Highlights
Information Resources: Articles, annotated multimedia materials, research abstracts, and related links
Calendar: EHS NRC events and a calendar of national training events
Discussion Forums: Home Visiting, EHS Directors Child Care Partnerships, Job Opportunities, Parents, Children with Special Needs, Mental Health, Working with Fathers
Links to EHS Partners: Programs, services, and information to support EHS
Contact Us Feedback Site Map
Search:
EHS Program Highlights

Little Voices for Healthy Choices
 An Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Initiative on Healthy Movement and Nutrition
with Infants and Toddlers

 

Little Voices for Healthy Choices is a national initiative for Early Head Start (EHS) and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) program staff and parents, designed to address healthy movement and nutrition for infants and toddlers. The Early Head Start National Resource Center (EHS NRC) has partnered with Choosy Kids, LLC and the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts to implement the Little Voices initiative.

The Little Voices initiative will provide teams of EHS and MSHS programs with knowledge and strategies to positively influence the healthy development of children and families in their care, and subsequently, positively influence their own movement and nutritional practices. Specifically, the Little Voices initiative will support Head Start Program Performance Standards 1304.21(a), 1304.21(b), 1304.23, 1304.40, and 1304.41.

Through a competitive application process, 24 EHS and MSHS programs, representative of the 10 ACF Regions and two program branches, will be selected to participate in an intensive training experience and one-year of supportive follow-up activities. The intensive training is scheduled for May 5-7, 2008 at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Arts. During this experience, participant program teams will learn how healthy nutrition, movement, and music contribute to the overall healthy development of infants and toddlers.

At the completion of the training, program teams will be asked to develop a work plan that includes 1-3 goals focused on making micro or macro level changes in their programs.

Micro level changes involve increasing the knowledge and skills of:

  • Staff and/or
  • Parents

Macro level changes involve influencing program system change in the areas of:

  • Curricula
  • Community Partnerships
  • Nutrition Planning/Services
  • Environments

Programs will continue to be supported in developing and implementing their work plans through regularly scheduled conference calls, on-site visits and other resources.

For more details on this initiative please see the information below:

For more information on Little Voices for Healthy Choices, please contact ehsnrcinfo@zerotothree.org.

Early Head Start National Resource Center @ ZERO TO THREE
2000 M. Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
202-638-1144 Fax 202-638-0851

This Web site was developed for the Office of Head Start by ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, under contract No. HHSP23320042900YC from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families; Administration for Children and Families; U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, to operate the Early Head Start National Resource Center.