Midcoast Maine Community Action

Child and family services - the child and family services department provides the following programs and services: head start/early head start: mmca's head start and early head start programs provide free high-quality, early childhood education for income- qualified families. Early head start serves children 6 weeks to 3 years old. Head start serves preschoolers 3 to 5 years old. These free programs give parents/ caregivers the time they need to work or go to school while their child has a chance to learn, socialize, get nutritious meals and snacks, and play in a licensed center with caring, qualified teachers. Each center helps families find assistance in challenging times with dedicated family advocates. Home visiting is also provided to families not enrolled in center based care. Whole families program includes a focus on the entire family with a flexible definition of family. The model is strength-based and family- focused and encourages teamwork between family, agency, and community resources. It includes an assessment for measuring levels of risk and promotes problem-solving skills that identify and eliminate barriers to self-sufficiency. The whole families model includes a comprehensive range of activities to assist participating families to achieve self-sufficiency goals through coordinated access to community services and on-going coaching support. Cacfp: the child and adult care feeding program (cacfp) is a federally funded program that is administered by the states to ensure that eligible children have access to healthy, nutritious food. Mmca uses cacfp funding to provide healthy meals to children enrolled in our head start centers.

Other services - other services include smaller programs funded by municipal and other unrestricted funding, as well as other agency central service costs.