The
Gazette - Community News - Wednesday, August 6,
2003
Eric
Kelderman - Staff Writer
Early-childhood program gets $1.3M
boost
Esther Ogiata is a typical Montgomery County
parent. She is heavily involved in her children's
education and tries to be an advocate for them
in the schools.
But that has not always been easy, she said, as
a single mother of three who is pursuing a pre-medical
degree at the University of Maryland, College
Park.
Ogiata, 26, has had some help, she acknowledges,
from a family service worker in the Early Head
Start program.
Three of Ogiata's children have been enrolled
in Early Head Start, which provides services to
pregnant mothers and children up to 3 years old.
Expectant mothers receive prenatal care through
the federally funded program, and children receive
screening and referrals for any medical or developmental
problems. Family workers also visit weekly to
help with parenting strategies and early childhood
education.
Nationwide, Early Head Start serves about 70,000
children and low-income families.
The Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and
Young Children in Rockville is one of two organizations
in Montgomery County that delivers the program
to 109 children and their families -- about 450
people total. The Lourie Center also serves children
and families in parts of Prince George's County.
This year, the Lourie Center received a $1.3 million
federal grant to continue the program. In the
past, the center has been the University of Maryland's
subcontractor on the program.
"This program is successful because of the
way they involve parents and provide comprehensive
services," said U.S. Rep. Christopher Van
Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington.
Van Hollen, who was formerly on the Lourie Center's
board of directors, visited Monday morning to
announce the grant money.
The main focus of Early Head Start is teaching
parents how to help their children, said Barbara
Nathanson, the program's coordinator at the Lourie
Center. "We want to help parents feel comfortable
about attending to children's needs."
Many parents also become involved in the program
as volunteers and even as employees. Ogiata now
leads the group of parents that advises the Lourie
Center on hiring Early Head Start staff, designs
parents activities and training sessions and arranges
child care for those activities.
For Ogiata, one of the most valuable things she
has learned is time management, she said at Monday's
announcement.
But she also received the support and encouragement
of her social worker and other parents in the
program, she said.
Her social worker told her "you can do whatever
you set your mind to," Ogiata recalled. "If
I can succeed, my kids will look up to me and
say, 'Wow, I can do that.'"
