East Coast Migrant Head Start Project (ECMHSP)
ECMHSP is a non-profit organization that has provided high-quality and comprehensive Head Start services to farmworker families for more than 30 years.
It was established in 1974, through a grant to the Leadership of Christian Women, to provide services to migrant farmworkers and their children.
Their Mission:
East Coast Migrant Head Start Project is committed to preparing the children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers for success. We do this by providing holistic, high-quality early childhood education services for children and families in a nurturing, culturally sensitive environment and by providing services and advocating for children and families in their other areas of need.
Today, ECMHSP operates at 48 educational centers and serves nearly 3,000 children annually.
The organization provides services in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia. In areas where East Coast Migrant Head Start Project lacks a local presence, it partners with delegate agencies, which are other non-profit organizations, which deliver services to the same high standards as ECMHSP does.
Maria C. Garza is the current Chief Executive Officer of the organization. Like the two CEOs that preceded her, she grew up in a farmworker family. Her experience as a farmworker child, and her career in leadership positions supporting the farmworker cause, made her uniquely qualified to lead East Coast Migrant Head Start Project into the next decade. The beginning of Maria’s tenure has been marked by a series of successes for the East Coast Migrant Head Start Project– from navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, to expansion of ECMHSP’s model of excellent services to Indiana and Oklahoma; from extending services to agricultural workers in dairy, seafood, and nurseries to the authorship of preschool books published by Scholastic Education.
Services provided:
Early Childhood Education Services – designed to put each child we serve on a path to school success.
Early Head Start – serves pregnant women, infants, and toddlers until children turn 3 and are ready to transition into Head Start or another pre-K program.
Family Services – support the aspirations of migrant and seasonal farmworker parents and help them in making those aspirations a reality.
Health Services – provide children, families, and staff with a safe and healthy environment.
Nutrition Services – designs nutrition and meal services that meet the unique needs of children, from breastfed infants to energetic preschoolers.
Transportation Services – provides safe, reliable, and efficient transportation services to children, parents, and staff supporting ECMHSP’s mission.
For more information, go to: https://www.ecmhsp.org/
