Waldo Community Action Partners’ Head Start program has set the bar high for themselves with the arrival of the new year. This is because not one but two individuals tied to Waldo Community Action Partners’ (WCAP) Head Start program were recognized nationally in 2012. The first was Jason Moody, a Head Start father who serves on the program’s Policy Council, Belfast Parent Group, and holds a seat on the WCAP Board of Directors representing Head Start. He now also sits on the National Center for Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Advisory Board.
Selection for the board, which meets in Boston, MA, involved a nomination and application process that took place over a three month period. Hundreds of applications were received from nominated Head Start parents, Jason being the only representative on the advisory board from the east coast selected. His direct involvement the advisory board provides an avenue for WCAP Head Start and its families and partners to have a strong voice in early childhood education on the national level, better impacting the children and families in our community.
This same community is also very proud of WCAP Head Start’s Debra Palmer. She first entered the Head Start program as a teacher and now serves as the Family Services Coordinator. Debra was nominated to be a recipient of a national award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences in Washington, D.C. called the Bammy Award in the category of Head Start Staff Member. Once nominated by the National Office of Head Start, Debra received an outpouring of community testimonials, from past students whom she taught as a Head Start teacher to neighbors, coworkers, and friends.
The community support is what won her a place on the Academy of Education’s red carpet, where she wore a floor-length red gown that was loaned to her through WCAP’s Cinderella Project of Maine. The event, which came complete with an orchestra performing on the stage as Bammy Award recipients accepted their awards, took place in September. Debra is the first ever recipient of a Bammy Award in her category and has set the stage for all those to follow.
Waldo Community Action Partners could not be more proud of both Debra and Jason and is confident that the two of them, along with their peers, will continue to be dedicated, compassionate, and irreplaceable members of the Waldo County Head Start community.