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New facility to provide Early Head Start services

 

COLUMBUS—On Tuesday, February 25, WNCSource held a ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration for the new Columbus Children’s Center in Polk County. 

Located at 11 Hope Valley Rd. on the Thermal Belt Outreach campus, the newly constructed 7,500-square-foot facility will provide Early Head Start services for 24 infants and toddlers. It features three classrooms, which can be expanded to five, age-specific outdoor learning environments, a parent-teacher conference room, a kitchen, laundry facilities, and a staff break room.

WNCSource, which built the new center after its former facility was damaged by repeated flooding in 2020, will partner with Polk County Schools to provide nutritious meals. Children in Early Head Start are eligible to transition to Head Start programs offered by Polk County Schools and other providers. Early Head Start provides diapers, formula, and other services to help families connect to resources in their community, including medical and dental care, nutrition programs, adult education, and social services.  

Early Head Start and Head Start serve families with foster children, income-eligible families, and children with disabilities. WNCSource utilizes trained teachers and a professional early childhood education curriculum focusing on five learning domains: Social/Emotional, Physical, Language, Cognitive, Literacy, and Mathematics. Early Head Start children are assessed three times annually to ensure their continued growth and progress toward preparing for Kindergarten. 

For more information about the Head Start programs, visit www.WNCSource.org.