Community Services for Children

1520 Hanover Ave.
Allentown, PA 18109
610-437-6000
 Where Early Education Works! 
 
 
 
Melanie Wursta and LCCC Students collect books for CSC

Melanie Wursta, member of CSC Board of Directors, and her students at LCCC collected over 200 books for children in the Head Start Program.

melanie
"Running" to help those in need this holiday season
finish line
 
The Finish Line, a running store in Emmaus, contacted us wanting to place a "mitten tree" in their store. Paper mittens were decorated with needs of the Early Head Start children and patrons of the store will be asked if they would like to pick a mitten and donate an item listed. The gift will then be delivered to the child selected by their Child Development Partner in December.
We're going on a Bear Hunt!
Madalyn Buss, daughter of CSC's Amanda Buss, recently came to CSC and read to the children in the FA classroom. Madalyn is currently in 1st grade at Saucon Valley Elementary School.

melanie wursta
Nominated as a Center of Excellence!!

Last month CSC received a letter from PA Governor Edward G. Rendell nominating our Head Start Program as a Center of Excellence. Ten programs will be selected nationally recognizing exceptional quality.
 
The nomination was awarded on the basis of our innovative and effective practices in delivering early education services as well as ongoing partnerships. 
 
 
Early Head Start/SafeStart to Expand!

In a competitive bid for Recovery Funds available through the US Department of Health & Human Services, CSC was awarded $1,028,000 to expand its Early Head Start/SafeStart program (includes $500,000 for renovations). SafeStart assists the development of infants and toddlers who have suffered abuse or neglect. This is a unique day program provided collaboratively with the Children and Youth Departments of Lehigh and Northampton counties. Like all Head Start programs, staff work with both children and their parents or other care givers. This expansion is especially supported by Lehigh County. Only one other program like this exists in the country. 
 
More Developing News:

We are working with United Way to develop the Youth Success Zone in Allentown, which is patterned after the Harlem Children's Zone developed by Geoffrey Canada. Very exciting. It's a new frontier and we're a perfect partner given our strengths with children and families and our knowledge of the area.

Education 2010 has partnered with us to operationalize a Language Enhancement Project located at our Linden Street Preschool in Allentown. It's an innovative approach to supporting language and literacy development among the children, most of whom transition into Central Elementary, one of Allentown's most challenging schools.
 
CSC and DaVinci Team up for Scientist in Residence Program

Head Start children in the Fowler classrooms get a weekly visitor from Jennifer Pritchard, the Outreach Coordinator at DaVinci. Made possible by a ILMS grant we are able to make this partnership possible. Jennifer visits the classrooms once a week and works with the teacher and children to bring more science into the classrooms. Jennifer is working with the teachers on how to incorporate what you have in the classroom and use it in a scientific way. So far the children have worked with guessing on howentertainment book many water drops it will take to cover a paper circle. Children were asked to make a guess before they did the experiment and then after they did the experiment they compared thier numbers. During this experiment the children were taught different science terminology and used various science tools. They plan to do an experiement with pumpkins and then grow the seeds!

CSC would like to thank these generous Donors for their recent gifts:

The Century Fund : Early Head Start/SafeStart Mental Heatlh Services, $10,000

Lehigh Valley Community Foundation: Books for Children, $5,000

Allentown Rotary: Books for Children, $1,000