Naima Mosley didn’t grow up in the rural North Carolina city of Henderson. But she has the privilege of watching it grow up around her, over and over again. And she even has an influence on how it develops.

As the Head Start director at Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity Inc., a local problem-solving hub and nonprofit Community Action Agency serving four North Carolina counties.  Mosley oversees nine Head Start / Early Head Start centers located primarily in rural areas of Franklin Vance Granville and Warren Counties. Each of these sites are Five-Star rated and provides comprehensive early learning, health, nutrition, and family support for children 13 months to 5 years of age from families meeting federal income guidelines, including children experiencing homelessness, in foster care, or with identified disabilities. 

“It gives me great joy to see when children are thriving in an environment that encourages curiosity and exploration,” Mosley said.  You can see a huge difference within a child that comes in really shy or quiet, or comes in fighting, kicking and biting and doesn’t want to stay in class too soon they’re fighting to stay and not wanting to go home. That tells me, my teachers are not only building confidence and motivating learning, they are also teaching them how to interact with the people and world around them.  

Head Start is a program that operates all over the country. The Office of Head Start within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which gives federal grants to local organizations — usually nonprofits or Community Action Agencies — to run centers in their own communities. Those federal dollars cover about 80% of the cost of each program, and the local grantee then raises or contributes the remaining 20% to keep the program running. 

Nationally, the program serves about 750,000 children up to the age of 5 every year. Across the four counties served by Franklin Vance Warren Opportunity, about 330 kids are enrolled in Head Start every year. 

Another 300 or so are on a waiting list, hoping to get a chance to benefit from the program. Franklin Vance Warren Opportunity also administers an Early Head Start program for children ages 13 months to 2 years old. Both programs operate every weekday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., offering working families a valuable and viable childcare option in communities where affordable childcare is hard to find.

Mosley said the availability of Early Head Start and Head Start makes a huge difference in the financial status of the low income families the programs serve, especially those whose earnings just barely disqualify them from receiving a childcare subsidy.

“Daycare costs so much,” she said. “They’d have to pay out of pocket if they went to daycare. With these programs, they’re able to save those funds they’d normally have to put into daycare. We don’t want them to have to choose between childcare and work.” 

According to a report by the Economic Policy Institute childcare costs have risen to $11720 per year. Families with two or more children pay over $19,000 annually. That’s more than the cost of public college tuition and rent.

For many working parents in the region, that choice isn’t theoretical. Without Head Start, families often face impossible math: paying more for childcare than they earn in a day, cutting back hours, or leaving the workforce entirely. Losing a job can mean losing health insurance, transportation, or the stability that keeps a household afloat. Head Start eases that pressure. By removing the single biggest barrier to staying employed, the program helps families keep their income steady and gives rural communities a stronger, more reliable workforce.

Included in the program are three meals a day, at-home visits, parent conferences, health screenings for hearing, vision and dental, and specialty services for kids who need them. Some, for example, may benefit from speech therapy before entering the public school system, while others may need behavioral interventions or physical therapy. Many Early Head Start programs even provide infant supplies, like diapers, pull-ups and formula when it’s needed.

The children are not just playing all day, Mosley said, most importantly, the program gets kids ready to succeed in school. The success stems from our supportive environments that nurtures children’s development, builds essential skills, and creates  lasting advantages, making it a powerful investment in children and families. We’ve experienced significant gains in cognitive, language, and reasoning skills.  Increased self esteem, better emotional regulation, reduced hyperactivity, and improved social skills. Overall our children are better prepared for kindergarten with improved language, literacy, and math skills. 

By equipping students with the skills and services they need at a young age, and removing financial barriers that may stand in the way of those services and interventions, organizations like Franklin Vance Warren Opportunity and their Head Start programs are investing in the future of their communities.

These opportunities are quite literally giving the next generation a head start on their way to finding success in school and eventually into adulthood. It’s not a stretch to say that the program not only gives families and students a head start, but it also gives communities as a whole a head start. 

“We have some kids who are non-verbal and the teachers are working really hard with them and they’re saying words and the parents are crying because the child is now talking,” Mosley said. “It gives me great pleasure when I see the kids thrive. We have a lot of success stories.”