Head Start Center
Nurturing Early Childhood Development
Since 1998 the Urban Horizon Early Childhood Discovery Center, has provided a safe, nurturing and activity-rich learning environment for 104 neighborhood pre-schoolers annually, where they develop social skills and creative expression. Students' families hail from many different countries, and speak over 14 different languages at home. In collaboration with Literacy Partners, the Family Literacy program offers parents an opportunity to participate in the learning experience alongside their children, and learn English language and parenting skills. A strong Parent Policy Committee shares equally in the decision making with the Sponsoring Board and Staff.
By offering professional, reliable and educational childcare, Head Start helps parents maintain employment and prepares children for later success in school.
An Earth Day Adventure with the Central Park Zoo!
To commemorate Earth Day 2008, the children in WHEDCo’s Head Start program went on a trip to the rain forest, using their five senses! With the help of Jungle Trevor, Jungle Jennie and Jungle Bricken from The Central Park Zoo, the children learned about the rainforest and the animals that live there.
They were able to listen to the different sounds of the rainforest, smell the scents of coffee and vanilla, touch a snake skin that was shed from a Honduran milk snake, and taste dried banana chips from the rainforest. While enjoying animated interaction with Yucan the Toucan (a stuffed hand puppet), the children also learned about the differentlayers of the rainforest and the importance of protecting this indispensable 
resource.
At the end of the session, the children enthusiastically echoed “thank you rainforest” for the ingredients that make up some of their favorite treats, from chocolate for chocolate chip cookies to vanilla ice-cream. WHEDCo thanks the Central Park Zoo for the magical Head Start journey deep into the rainforest on Earth Day 2008.
