Head Start Of Greater Dallas Inc history

1903: 350 children were enrolled in the Dallas Free Kindergarten and Industrial Association programs, with three child care centers operating and many children on waiting lists.

1913: The first milk station was opened by Infants’ Welfare and Milk Association.

1914: Dental services began to be offered.

1924: During the next quarter-century, the Association evolved rapidly to keep pace with the growing and changing needs of the community.

1925: The association formally merged with SMU’s School of Education.

1927: Kindergarten for African American children opened in one of milk stations.

1936: Stability started to return: Five nurseries, one African-American kindergarten and four infant welfare stations were operating at this time.

1942: The War Chest provided money for four new nurseries and a new nursery for African-American children in South Dallas.

1949: A new nursery for African-American children opened.

1951: The infant welfare program was abandoned.

1959: The first nursery outside of Dallas opened, the Pearl C. Anderson Center in Garland.

1964: A study of the Dallas Day Nursery Association was conducted by the Council of Social Agencies of Dallas on Family Day Care.

1969: The USDA began subsidizing food at $0.25 per child to improve nutrition.

1975: The Association implemented into practice its expanding body of knowledge about how children develop, now known as Relationship-Centered Child Care (RC3)® — a focus and commitment to helping each child feel uniquely cared about while spending long hours every day away from his or her family.

1977: The agency received a two-year contract with the City of Dallas to recruit and train child care workers for placement in community child care centers, funded by CETA. Pointer Street Child Care Center and day homes were added to the agency, bringing the service level to more than 800 children.

In 1980, Wanda Smith received the Margaret H. Cone Award from the Dallas Association for the Education of Young Children.

1985: The Wilene Dade Training Center opened, featuring model child care settings for centers and home-based child care.

1988: The Head Start program realigned and came under the interim sponsorship of the Community Council of Greater Dallas for six months in 1988.

1992: The Pearl C. Anderson Child Development Center in Garland, Texas, was named one of the 10 best in the country by Child Magazine.

1994: Sonya Bemporad and Roberta Bergman co-authored the Relationship–Centered Child Care White Paper: New Hope for America’s Youngest Children.

Wanda Meshack Smith, who served as Chief Executive Officer of Head Start of Greater Dallas, Inc. since 1997 retired on Aug.

1998: First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visited our centers as a national model in February.

2001: Early Head Start expanded in the Bock Center, and a new partnership with Oak Cliff United Methodist Church (UMC) helped renovate the existing building to serve infants and toddlers, as well as a limited number of preschoolers.

2005: Susan Hoff was hired to serve as the President/CEO of ChildCareGroup.

2007: Three TEEM classrooms in two of ChildCareGroup’s child development centers received the State’s new preschool certification, “School Ready” Award.

2012: ChildCareGroup relocated its administrative offices to One Mockingbird Plaza and redesigned the agency logo with the tagline, “Nurturing the Great in every child.”

2016: The Born Learning home visiting program expanded to Plano and McKinney, and an additional office was opened in Plano.

2018: ChildCareGroup has come a long way, evolving from a free kindergarten and milk program into a national model for the best practices in early childhood education and holistic services for parents.