With unemployment high, the staff of an Early Head Start program based in Evanston noticed that some hard-hit families were removing their children from child care and support programs that focus on child care centers. As a result, Early Head Start teachers were losing their ability to help at-risk children.
To address the problem, the Childcare Network of Evanston recently received $1.7 million in federal stimulus money to take parenting and child-development services to the families’ homes. The network plans to expand its services farther into the North Shore.
“People don’t think of the North Shore with families living in poverty,” said Martha Arntson, executive director of network. But, Ms. Arntson said, pockets of struggling families exist even in affluent areas.
