Leadership Opportunities

Testimonials – Helping kids, supporting parents, growing stronger families

VOALA Head Start programs offer more than free preschool.

Valentina D. was playing with her 3-year-old son at a nearby playground when a woman told her about the VOALA Head Start program and invited them to participate.

“She explained the program to me and I said, yes, let’s do it. Let’s try it out,” Valentina says.

Volunteers of America Los Angeles (VOALA) offers free Early Head Start and Head Start preschool programs to families who qualify. With over 50 sites throughout Los Angeles County, there are opportunities for parents to enroll their young children in preschool close to home.

“Head Start is about giving low-income children ages 3 to 5 a little extra so once they get to school, they’ll be doing fine,” says Tony Van Dam, Assistant Director  “Our services are free to families who qualify.”

“Head Start helped my children with their language skills. They started speaking at a pretty young age,” Valentina says. “My daughter started speaking at almost a year old. My son started Head Start at 3 years old, but his vocabulary developed so quickly that now he is reading at a sixth-grade level when he’s in fourth grade.”

The time from birth to age 5 is critical for children’s physical and emotional growth, brain and language development, learning capacity, and more. Yet for some parents, the priority is survival.

When Valentina enrolled her son in Head Start, she was facing some family problems—and VOALA helped provide the needed resources.

VOALA Family Advocates work with parents’ individual needs, helping them resolve housing and landlord issues, explore work and training opportunities, direct them to health and wellness services, and more, Tony explains

“Throughout Covid, we had some financial hardships and housing hardships. They helped us out with the resources again,” she says. 

“We try to meet the parents where they’re at,” Tony says. Parents may need help setting goals like getting a job—which involves many steps from creating a resume, preparing for interviews, learning to use computers, or improving English skills.

“It’s a whole family, holistic approach,” Tony says. “We want to help parents deal with the challenges they’re facing.”

In addition to Head Start, VOALA offers Early Head Start and Homebase for qualifying children from birth to age 3. These programs mainly involve home visits to help build the relationship between parents and their children. 

Valentina’s daughter was 6 months old when she was enrolled in Early Head Start. “It’s a lot of hands-on learning with the child,” she says. Her daughter is now in Head Start preschool—and Valentina is participating in the VOALA Prenatal program to prepare for her third child’s arrival next month. 

“After my first two pregnancies I had postpartum depression, so right now we are doing some therapy,” she says. “I have someone to talk to. It also helps to have someone coming in and telling me, ‘This is what you need to drink. This is what you have to eat.’”

Parent Participation

Parent participation is a critical piece of VOALA’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Parents serve on committees at their local center, and one parent from each site is nominated to serve on the Policy Council. Many of these parents later become part of their child’s elementary school PTA—or eventually attended child development classes and now work as VOALA staff.

Valentina served on the policy council for several years as a member and president and is currently the community representative for Maud Booth. Parents get involved by voting on possible changes to the program and approving how extra money is spent at their center. She recently signed up for the internship program which could potentially lead to her being hired as a staff member.

Many parents learn about the program from other parents—like Valentina. “They need to go for it. It helps their kids tremendously. I mentioned it to my cousin. She has two kids under the age of 2—and they’re now in Homebase and she loves the program,” Valentina says.

For information about VOALA Head Start, Early Head Start, and Child & Family Services, call 818-980-2287