New Head Start Play Area to Serve Families Experiencing Homelessness in Santa Cruz County

News from Homeless Services Center of Santa Cruz County:

Encompass Community Services has installed a new Head Start play area for families at Homeless Services Center’s Rebele Family Shelter (RFS).

The new play area provides a safe and nurturing environment where Head Start home visitors and Homeless Services Center’s staff can work with homeless parents and their children, helping them to build stronger relationships that will result in improved educational and social-emotional success.

The new socialization space was made possible through funding obtained by Encompass Community Services from Head Start.

Cynthia Sloane, Child and Family Development Director at Encompass said, “I’m excited about this ongoing collaboration and partnership with Rebele Family Shelter and Early Head Start. We want to continue to build on our relationship and hope in the future to create a child care center to serve families experiencing homelessness.”

Mary Triulzi, Program Manager for Rebele Family Shelter is equally excited about the new partnership.

Reflecting on the new play area, she said, “Our new play area will provide a centralized area in our shared family space for Rebele Family Shelter resident children to be with their families in a manner that supports optimal development.

“We now have the opportunity to have our family housing work and planning meetings in a space that offers the children of our residents a safe and engaging environment. All families deserve to have a place where parents can have their children in a space that is safe, welcoming, and supports their healthy development. I’m very happy that Encompass’s Head Start Services has made this possible at Rebele Family Shelter.”

Head Start provides child development and family support services to promote school readiness and healthy families. Each week, staff from Encompass come to RFS to conduct home-based visits with homeless parents and their children.

During the sessions, parents learn to set and meet family goals, advocate for their children, and develop parenting skills. The sessions also provide children opportunities to develop age-appropriate skills and participate in family literacy activities.

According to the America’s Youngest Outcasts: A Report on Child Homelessness by the National Center on Family Homelessness at American Institutes for Research, California ranks 48 out of 50 states in relation to the number of homeless children, the children’s well-being, the state’s risk for child homelessness, and state level planning and policy efforts.

This study found that in California education proficiency in reading and math for children experiencing homelessness is under 20 percent for 4th graders.

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Founded in 1986, Homeless Services Center creates pathways to housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Santa Cruz County.

HSC strategically focuses its efforts on data-driven solutions to increase the rate at which participants end their homelessness and reduce chronic homelessness in Santa Cruz County.

For additional information, visitwww.santacruzhsc.org.

Encompass Community Services (formerly Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center) has been serving Santa Cruz County since 1973.

Our mission is “building on the strength of people working together to create healthy change in their lives and community. We deliver quality human services guided by the values of diversity, partnership, and the power of workplace democracy.”

This year we served over 7,500 Santa Cruz residents with culturally-sensitive, bilingual services. We do this through our four service components: Child and Family Development Programs, Youth Services, Community Recovery Services, and Community Support Services.

For additional information, visit www.encompasscs.org.