Agency Evaluation Paper

Javona Harris

Agency Evaluation Paper

Issues in Social Service Delivery: 39-421

Telamon Corporation

Organizational Culture

Telamon Corporation Head Start centers provide a secure setting where children can develop their skills under the watchful eyes of well-trained caregivers. The mission of this agency is “to support the social-emotional, academic, and physical development of children by working with families, early care and education programs, and the community through a statewide, comprehensive early childhood system”. The goals of the agency is to give all young children including children with disabilities, English language learners, and other children who maybe at risk the learning opportunities they need to be successful in school and life and to give families the community supports they need to be the primary teachers of their children. The children of this program will learn and live in a safe and nurturing environment.

Telamon head start programs incorporate curriculum that is continuous and ensures smooth transition of children and families from one setting to the next. The learning curriculum is based on early care and education professionals from Delaware First and K-12 teacher standards. The work group also collaborates with other agencies, public and private, to ensure a high quality comprehensive early childhood system.

Telamon Head Start centers offer partial or full-day services. The services include health and dental screenings, nutritious meals, individual as well as group learning experiences, play opportunities and other structured activities. Parents are included in program planning and all services and materials are designed to be age and developmentally appropriate as well as sensitive to the cultural and language environment of a child's home.

The approach of Telamon head start is to provide a nurturing environment that supports the healthy growth and development of each child in the context of the child’s family, culture and community. Parents are to work as partners in the learning process by volunteering and being active participants programs such as policy groups.

Since 1965, Telamon Corporation has provided supportive assistance to untold numbers of recipients. Farm workers and their families, children born into poverty, low-income and elderly residents of rural America, youth who struggle with societal challenges, and all children and families who are in need of the services.

Organizational Chart

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Telamon is made up of different people who oversee and run the agency. The agency starts off in the governing board. The Deputy Executive Director is just under the Executive Director and his objective is to assist the Executive Director in all organization matters. The Deputy Executive Director provides overall administrative direction to assigned areas and performs executive duties as assigned. The State Head Start Director is directly under the Deputy Executive Director. The State Head Start Director’s main objective is to oversee the development and implementation of the head start program and to recruit, train and supervise personnel. The Deputy State Director comes after and his main goal is to assist the State Director and participate in the development of corporate systems/ procedures, as well as new program opportunities.

The next position is the state Education/Disabilities Coordinator. The State Education/Disabilities Coordinator assures the education component adheres to head start performance standards and state child care regulation and also develops manuals and component plans, forms and others materials needed. The State Education Specialist assists the State Education/Disabilities Coordinator in ensuring that the education component is implemented in accordance with all head start, USDA, and day care licensing regulations. The State Education Specialist is also to provide training and technical assistance to education staff at the center level along with any other related duties.

The State Health Coordinator ensures compliance with requirements or regulatory entities, implements the health program, designs programs to ensure that the compliances are meant, and is responsible for program oversight, training and supervision of assigned staff. Next there is the State Property Coordinator who major objective is to ensure transportation compliance, to supervise and coordinate the construction, inspection and maintenance of the head start centers, to maintain property inventories, and to assume managerial duties as required. Another position held is the state family service coordinator. The main goal of this position is to plan implements and evaluate parent’s involvement and to establish a process that includes parents, staff and community involvement.

Next, there is the Office Manager. The Office Manager is to oversee the development and implementation of the head start administration component and to provide administrative support to the state head director and state coordinator. The data specialist assists with the development of management information systems and also implements and maintains systems and procedures for input, storage, analysis and retrieval of records. The Data Specialist also assists the production of the budget and program reports, performs clerical duties as assigned and assists in parent involvement and mobilization of matching in-kind funds.

Over the years the growth as a nonprofit organization has grew and also the number of programs it operates throughout the states. Over 100 projects, to date, bring help with childcare, employment, housing, education and community development to people in ten states. The corporation’s projects include head start programs, employment training, housing programs, and youth opportunities which are all funded by the government through grants and funds. The individual head start sites also use volunteer work to help fund the programs. Every hour of volunteer work can be turned into money for the program through in-kind.