Champions of Change

Champions of Change Blog

  • Supporting Children Through an Educational Journey

    Posted by Angelica Vilaverda on June 18, 2012 at 12:36 PM EDT

    Angelica Vilaverda is being honored as a Champion of Change for her commitment to delivering on the promise of Head Start in her community, helping to educate and care for our youngest, most vulnerable children. 

    As a teacher in the Early Head Start community, I am honored to be a White House Champion of Change. As I reflect upon my service in my community and what it means to me to be an Early Head Start teacher at Educare Arizona, I realize that it all began with my passion for children at a very young age. My passion was recognized in the fourth grade. I arrived promptly each day to tend to my morning duty of escorting children in wheelchairs to their classroom. All I remember my mother saying was, “She will be a great teacher one day.” My journey in Head Start began in November 2009 as a teacher for the Early Head Start Center-Based program. I knew how to support the play of children and how to conduct developmental assessments, but was unaware of the astounding impact the children and families would have on my work. Working with low-income, at-risk families brought some challenges my way but what drew me in as an Early Head Start teacher was listening to their stories and using parents as a key instrument in their child’s successful educational journey.

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  • Empowering Families Through Head Start

    Posted by Ginger West on June 18, 2012 at 12:30 PM EDT

    Ginger West is being honored as a Champion of Change for her commitment to delivering on the promise of Head Start in her community, helping to educate and care for our youngest, most vulnerable children. 

    On July 26, 2006, I was keeping vigil at my 4 day old daughter’s bedside while she was fighting for her life. I was so scared. She had tubes going into her head and was so tiny and blue. My daughter Jacquie was born with Down Syndrome. I had no idea what we were going to do. I was so upset. Nobody could tell us anything. A little while later the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit staff introduced us to the nurse from The Learning Center for Families (TLC) Early Head Start (EHS) program. She reassured us that the TLC-EHS program would be there for us as soon as we got out of the hospital. Those first few weeks were a blur. But I do remember that someone from TLC came over every week and I really looked forward to those visits. I didn’t know it, but on top of everything else, I had postnatal depression and I was struggling. TLC helped me find a counselor and together we worked on developing goals for my daughter and our family.

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  • Creating an Environment of Change for Tribal Head Start

    Posted by Renetta Goeson on June 18, 2012 at 12:13 PM EDT

    Renetta Goeson is being honored as a Champion of Change for her commitment to delivering on the promise of Head Start in her community, helping to educate and care for our youngest, most vulnerable children. 

    It is a great honor to be chosen as a Champion of Change for Head Start. As I think about change, I am quickly reminded of changes that have occurred for my tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (SWO) of the Lake Traverse Reservation. Historically, children were revered as sacred because they were viewed as a gift from the spirit world. Children were respected as not only sacred, but capable beings, as they strive to understand the world and make their own theories to explain how it functions.

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  • Progress Toward a Better Life

    Posted by Joy Trejo on June 18, 2012 at 12:09 PM EDT

    Joy Trejo is being honored as a Champion of Change for her commitment to delivering on the promise of Head Start in her community, helping to educate and care for our youngest, most vulnerable children. 

    As a Head Start Champion of Change, I am privileged to represent The Campagna Center, a non-profit organization in Alexandria, Virginia that has been involved with Head Start for over 45 years. Over those many years, the organization has endeavored to always meet the Head Start goal of helping young children living in poverty develop the skills needed to succeed in school and life. What makes Head Start unique amongst early childhood education and development programs is its comprehensive focus. Head Start has always recognized the importance of working with parents to address the needs of their children.

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  • Collective Impact for Positive Change

    Posted by Rosemary Grier on June 18, 2012 at 11:56 AM EDT

    Rosemary Grier is being honored as a Champion of Change for her commitment to delivering on the promise of Head Start in her community, helping to educate and care for our youngest, most vulnerable children. 

    Innovation and creative thinking continues to drive the Baraga-Houghton-Keweenaw Child Development Board (BHK) as a leader in providing high-quality early childhood services to children and families. BHK families are offered opportunities to be involved with and gain knowledge about interactive literacy experiences, dual language, parenting skills, child development, and adult education. Our programs help families connect to health and wellness services, including pregnancy education, breast feeding support, home visiting, health and developmental screenings, and medical and dental care. BHK collaborates with 10 local school districts and more than 300 community partners.

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  • What It Really Means to Be a Father

    Posted by Bob Johnson on June 13, 2012 at 12:41 PM EDT

    The White House Office of Public Engagement and Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships honors 10 individuals who are doing tremendous work in the fields of fatherhood and low-income men and boys. Because of his work in this field Bob Johnson is being recognized as a Champion of Change.

    After we made the decision to pull our oldest child out of school, due to years of constant abuse at the hands of both students and faculty for being gay, we knew the story couldn't end there. There had to be something we could do.

    This is where my journey really began and set me on the path to discovering to what it really means to be a father.

    We were blessed to be one of the families filmed and featured in the 2012 documentary "Bully," a film that followed the struggles of five families as they tried to cope with the impact of severe and pervasive bullying.

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