Head Start Centers of Excellence

The Centers of Excellence program was established in the 2007 amendments to the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.). Congress appropriated $2 million in Public Law 111-8 for Fiscal Year 2009 for the Centers of Excellence program. The Centers of Excellence program will recognize Head Start and Early Head Start grantees that are performing at the highest levels of quality. Excellent and effective programs are those that have achieved and are actively building upon full compliance with the Program Performance Standards and are implementing comprehensive innovative and targeted approaches to enhance program services. Recognized Centers will provide all Head Start programs and other early childhood organizations with opportunities to benefit from the practices that guided them on a path to excellence.

To be eligible to apply to be designated as a Center of Excellence, the Head Start or Early Head Start program must be nominated by the Governor of their state through a competitive process and include the letter of nomination from their Governor in their application. The nomination process must be completed and a letter sent from the Governor by December 1, 2009.

The Wisconsin Process:

• The Governor's Office has developed a competitive application.
• The application will be posted on the Department of Children and Families website and forwarded to the Wisconsin Head Start Association for dissemination to all state Head Start and Early Head Start grantees.
• Applicants will submit a completed application and all supporting documents to karen.asbjornson@wisconsin.gov no later than 4pm on November 16, 2009.
• The Governor's Office will review all applications.
• The Governor's Office will send a letter to the Head Start/Early Head Start agency or agencies they wish to nominate by December 1, 2009.