Even Start is a program of the US Department of Education administered through the NDE Office of Early Childhood. The Even Start Family Literacy Program is intended to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy and improve the educational opportunity of low income families by integrating intensive early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education including support for english language learners and parenting education.
Even Start programs are implemented through cooperative projects that build on existing community resources to create a new range of services and assist children and adults from low-income families to achieve challenging state content standards and student performance standards. In Nebraska, Even Start programs are expected to operate in congruence with widely recognized definitions of best practice for early childhood, adult, and parenting education. Even Start provides one more opportunity for communities to craft family-centered programs designed to ensure the success of all of the community's children in their schooling.
State administrative funds support Even Start training and technical assistance in part, through the Early Childhood Training Center located at ESU #3 in Omaha. The Training Center provides a library of resources on early childhood, family issues, and parenting education and provides support in the use of the Parenting Education Materials. Local programs contract with the Training Center to obtain on-site training and other support.
Eligible applicants reflect partnerships comprised of both local education agencies, including educational service units, and one or more community-based organizations, public agencies, institutions of higher education, or other non-profit organizations or community-based organizations. Examples of possible partners with local education agencies include Head Start, libraries, literacy councils, non-profit early care and education programs, etc. The Even Start law does not specify which of the partners is to serve as the fiscal agent. In communities served by Head Start, the partnership must include Head Start as one of the major partners and service providers.
Eligible participants in Even Start programs are parents eligible for participation in an adult education program and their child(ren) from birth through age 7. To be eligible, at least one parent and one or more eligible children must participate together in all components of the Even Start project (early childhood, parenting, and adult education). Parenting teens under age 16 are also eligible to participate with their children so long as the school district provides the basic education component for the teen parent. Once a family's eligibility is established and that family is participating in the program as required, all members of the family may continue to participate until all the eligible family members are ineligible (i.e., no members of the family are eligible for adult education and all children have reached 8 years of age).
Projects are selected through a competitive process. Federal resources support 90 percent of the costs in the initial year. Each year of a four-year grant period Federal funds decrease 10 percent per year. Funded projects are eligible to apply for a second and subsequent four-year funding period in competition with new applicants. Previously funded projects which are awarded second and subsequent funding periods are required to provide a local match of no less than 50 percent for each of years five through eight and 35 percent thereafter.
Office of Early Childhood
Nebraska Department of Education
301 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, NE 68509
Phone: 402-471-3184 Fax: 402-471-0117
Webmaster:
heidi.thomas@nebraska.gov