Worcester Community Action Council fights to break the cycle of poverty in Massachusetts
Nutritional support services and access to educational opportunities for children from low-income families
Current Project
The Head Start program, developed by the Worcester Community Action Council, provides nutritional care for children at risk of social exclusion, as well as their families, in Worcester, Massachusetts. In this community, many families live below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and are unable to ensure that their children are well-nourished enough to grow up healthy and in the best condition to learn and develop in a balanced way.
To alleviate this need, this project provides students with a healthy and nutritious full breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. A total of 203 children will be provided with adequate meals over a period of approximately 20 weeks. The meals are prepared in the Southbridge and Webster public schools and meet all the quality standards required by the United States Department of Agriculture.
The goal of the project is to ensure the healthy and proper development of these children, curbing the country’s dangerous obesity rates, and to provide them with the tools they need for a successful future.
In addition to receiving a diet appropriate to their developmental needs, they are encouraged to be curious about trying new foods and learn manners. Ensuring that vulnerable children have a healthy diet will help them reach their true potential.
In addition, the Lending Library program aims to encourage reading habits among both the children and their parents. In addition to working in schools, where they will dedicate 30 minutes a day to reading, the aim is that, through books, emotional bonds are created that help to cement interactions between schoolchildren and their parents. Efforts are also made to help the children understand the texts, as well as improve their listening, attention, imagination and creativity.
