Community Service Program
The Community Services Department operates programs
through County Service Centers. These Service
Centers are the primary source of community input to the
agency. Listed below are the major services
provided within the Community Services Department.
Commodity Distribution
This program provides food commodities to persons who
meet established income guidelines. Commodities
are purchased by the U.S. Department of Agriculture from
American farmers and are provided to each state for
distribution. In Georgia, the Department of Human
Resources (DHR) is the designated agency to handle this
distribution process. CSU contracts with DHR for
distributions in our area.
Community Resource
Job Readiness, Job Development, Job Mentoring, Parent
Aide Services, and other employment support services are
offered through contacts with local county Department of
Family and Children Services.
Education Support Services
Services are designed to assist program participants to
attain/acquire an adequate education. Services
include assessments/referrals to appropriate agencies.
Emergency Assistance
Emergency assistance takes on many forms depending on
the nature of the need. In most cases, it involves
the need for food, clothing, shelter, medical attention,
transportation, and other maintenance needs. this
program is made possible through grants and gratuities
from churches, clubs, individuals, the United Way,
State, and Federal Agencies.
Emergency Energy Assistance
Payment of utility bills for income eligible persons in
order to prevent discontinuations or provide restoration
of energy services is provided by this program, when
funds are available.
Regular Energy Assistance (EAP)
This program offers a one time utility payment of a
heating bill for an income eligible household, when
funded by DHR.
Employment Support Services
This program provides assessment, counseling, referrals,
and other employment support activities, on a case by
case basis.
Food Bank
This program provides emergency pantry type
non-perishable food to needy families.
Funding for the program is through the participation of
local grocery stores, individuals,
churches, clubs, United Way, and other organizations. In
some counties, CSI operates the
program. In others, it is brokered to other agencies.
Housing
Service activities designed to assist low-income
individuals to obtain and maintain
adequate housing comprise .this program. Activities
include housing advocacy, counseling,
weatherization assistance/referrals, relocation and
locator assistance, and temporary shelter
assistance, if funds are available.
Income Management
These services are for the specific purposes of
assisting low-income individuals/families
to effectively manage and use available resources.
Activities include budget counseling, legal
aid assistance, mortgage counseling, credit counseling,
and referrals to other agencies.
Nutrition
Services are provided that decrease the incidents of
starvation and malnutrition among
program participants. Activities include nutrition
education sessions, nutrition education
outreach activities, community-food and nutrition
assistance, and referrals.
Other
SSI Advocacy services provide assistance to DFACS
referred clients in order to help
individuals apply for SSI benefits.
Outreach Information and Referral
This service, provided at the Service Centers, informs
clients about services available to
them in the community. This information is provided
through printed material, by "word-of-mouth",
and the news media.
Parent Aide Services
This service is an intensive, short-term AFDC Family at
Risk Intervention to prevent
foster care placement or to help return a child from
foster care back to the home.
Recreation-Wellness
This program provides a variety of services which
enhance the physical and emotional
health of elderly clients. These activities are usually
performed in Senior Citizens Centers and/or
Service Centers.
Substance Abuse Education/Awareness
This service provides Prevention/Education/Awareness
Workshops on substance abuse
topics.
Transportation
This program provides limited transportation services
for clients for medical, shopping,
recreational needs, etc. Many programs operated by
Concerted Services, Inc. have their own
transportation component.
Youth and Family Development
Services are designed to address the needs of youth in
low-income communities through
youth development programs/services that improve the
whole family. Activities include youth
mentoring programs, summer recreational/educational
programs, teen councils, substance abuse
education sessions, and out-of-school youth programs.
EARLY HEAD START
The Early Head Start Program provides early, continuous,
intensive, and comprehensive
child development and family support services on a full
year basis to low-income families. The
purpose of the Early Head Start program is to enhance
children's physical, social, emotional, and
intellectual development; to support parents' efforts to
fulfill their parental roles; and to help
parents move toward self-sufficiency. Early Head Start
is funded by the Administration on
Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) Services. This
project receives only 80% of its operating
costs from Federal monies. The other 20% comes in the
form of monetary contributions,
volunteer or in-kind services, and donations from the
local community.
The goals of the .programs are:
1. Healthy pregnancies and positive childbirth outcomes;
2. Supportive postpartum care for the parents and child;
3. Fully involving fathers in the lives of their very young
children; and
4. Nurturing and responsive care during infancy.
It is expected that pregnant women and their families
who receive EHS services will
enroll their child in EHS following birth. The goal of
servicing pregnant women and their
families in EHS is to ultimately provide EHS services to
their children in the appropriate child
development Program Option (center based). It is not the
intention of the EHS program only to
serve pregnant women without also providing services to
the child upon delivery.
Services will include:
1. Comprehensive prenatal health care;
2. Postpartum health care;
3. Quality child care;
4. Parental skills; and
5. Crisis management.
This program operates in Bacon and Ware Counties.
HEAD START PROGRAM
Project Head Start is a preschool program for youth,
ages 3-5, that provides a learning
environment and varied experiences which will help them
develop socially, intellectually,
physically, and emotionally in a manner appropriate to
their age and stage of development.
There are 919 students enrolled in Appling County,
Atkinson County, Bacon County, Brantley
County, Candler County, Charlton County, Clinch County,
Coffee County, Jeff Davis County,
Pierce County, Toombs County, and Ware County. CSI
provides these services with grant funds
from the United States Department of Health and Human
Services, Office .of Human
Development Services, Administration for Children and
Families, Head Start Bureau in Atlanta,
Georgia The major component areas of Head Start are:
Disability Services
Children with disabilities and their families receive
the full range of Head Start
developmental services. In addition, staff members work
locally with community agencies to
provide services to meet the special needs of the
children with disabilities and the needs of their
families.
Education
This program is designed to meet each child's individual
educational needs. It also serves
to meet the needs of the community served and its ethnic
and cultural characteristics. Every
child receives a variety of learning experiences to
foster intellectual, social, and emotional
growth. Children participate in indoor and outdoor play
and are introduced to the concepts of
words and numbers. They are encouraged to express their
feelings and to develop self-confidence
and the ability to get along with others.
Health
Head Start emphasizes the importance of early
identification of health problems. Since
many preschool children of low-income families have
never seen a doctor or dentist, Head Start
provides every child with a comprehensive health care
program, including medical, dental and
mental health, and nutritional services.
Literacy
The CSI Head Start Literacy Program pays for the cost of
classes, books, and tests to
encourage and help parents get their GED. Also,
referrals for financial assistance, application
processing, and grants to help parents attend technical
school and college are provided.
The RIF (Reading is Fundamental) Program allows Head
Start children to select a free
book at RIF Book Distributions. There are three book
distributions held throughout the program
year. Children are allowed to select a book of their
choice and take it home to start their home
library.
Medical and Dental
Children receive a complete examination, including
vision and hearing screening,
identification of handicapping conditions,
immunizations, and a dental exam. Follow-up
treatment is provided for identified health and dental
problems.
Mental Health
Head Start recognizes the importance of providing mental
health and psychological
services to children of low-income families to encourage
their emotional and social
development. The program provides Mental Health training
to staff and parents to make them
aware of the need for early attention to the special
problems for children.
Nutrition
Many children entering Head Start do not receive good
nourishing meals at home. Head
Start enrollees are served a minimum of two hot meals
and a snack each day. Menus are
prepared by the Health and Nutrition Specialist with a
copy furnished to each enrollee's family.
Parent and Community Involvement
Parents are the most important influence on a child's
development. An essential part of
the program is the involvement of parents in parent
education and program planning and
activities. Many serve as members of the Policy Council
and Center Committees. As such, they
have a voice in the makeup of the program, i.e. center
sites, budgets, and curriculum. Many
parents also serve on a volunteer or paid basis as aides
for teachers or cooks. They receive
preference for employment .in non-professional Head
Start staff jobs. Local businesses and
volunteers are also encouraged to take an active role in
the program.
An additional service provided by the Parent Involvement
Area is the Male Involvement
Initiative, whereby Head Start fathers and other
significant males in the home and/or in the lives
of Head Start male enrollees are actively involved in a
positive manner in the lives and education
of the young male child.
Social Services
This area of Head Start represents an organized method
of assisting families in assessing
their needs and then providing s e ~ c etsha t will
build upon the individual strengths of families to
meet their needs. Some of the activities used by Social
Services to assist families are:
community outreach, referrals, family needs assessment,
providing information about available
resources and how to access them, recruitment and
enrollment, and emergency assistance andlor
crisis information.
Transition
This program area assists parents with the transition of
their child into and out of Head
Start. Parents are educated on what quality child care
is and how to be an advocate for their
child once they move into the public school system.
PRE-K PROGRAM
Georgia's Pre-K Program was established in 1993 to
provide Georgia's four-year-old
children with high-quality preschool experiences. This
unique program, funded by the Georgia
Lottery for Education, is expected to serve about 70,000
children in the 2005-2006 school year.
With this statewide pre-kindergarten program, Georgia
reaches a higher proportion of four-year old
children than any other state in the nation. The goal of
every Georgia Pre-K classroom is to
provide our four-year-olds with the learning and
experiences they need to prepare for kindergarten.
Concerted Services, Inc. operates 3 H/S - Pre-K blended
classes consisting of 60 enrollees and six
staff persons at the Waycross/Ware County Head Start
Center.
