For migrant farmers, the summer season means months of work harvesting crops.
The Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska's Migrant Head Start Program wants to ensure that the summer will be enjoyable and safe for the children of migrant farmers.
Maria Alvizar, family development coordinator at the partnership, and Tania Lopez, a family advocate, are getting the word out about the Migrant Head Start program.
It offers care to migrant workers' children who are 6 weeks to 5 years old.
Many of the migrant workers who come to the Panhandle have traveled from Texas or Mexico to work during the planting and harvesting seasons for beets, beans and potatoes.
Lopez knows the program's value firsthand because she attended it as a child of migrant workers.
She remembers days spent in her parents' vehicle, out in the hot sun with her siblings.
“It would get really hot, really boring,” she said. “We were hungry.”
She said she and her siblings looked forward to the start of the Head Start program each year.
“I loved the Migrant Head Start Program,” she said. “I wasn't out in the fields. The Migrant Head Start Program is a good way to get the children out of the fields and into a good environment.”
Migrant Head Start Programs are offered in Alliance and Scottsbluff.
“Parents are really grateful that their children are in a safe place,” Alvizar said. “They are also learning in a fun environment.”
The program provides care to children from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Alvizar said. They take part in a mix of educational activities and receive breakfast, lunch and a midday snack. Parents can also participate in the program's educational opportunities.
The program also provides referrals to health and social services, working with other agencies that serve the area's migrant population.
Parents must show that they have moved from one geographic area to another in the past 24 months and derive more than half their income from migrant work. Parents need to fill out an application and provide proof of income, a birth certificate and immunization records for their children.
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