Mid-Columbia Children's Council

Historical Perspective of Mid-Columbia Children’s Council

Established in 1965 as part of the antipoverty program of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Head Start was funded to prepare disadvantaged children for school. Its mission included teachers working with children not only on learning basic subjects such as the alphabet, numbers, and colors but also on learning social skills needed to succeed in school. In addition, Head Start would provide health screenings for children and encourage parents to participate in the program as volunteers.
Mid-Columbia Children’s Council started providing Head Start services in White Salmon as a summer project in 1967. Concurrently, a community member in Parkdale named Lenny Mueller was instrumental in bringing services to the Gorge. She was motivated by an unfortunate accident. A young child was run over by a tractor in a Hood River County orchard. Lenny wanted to find a way to take children out of the orchards and provide a safe learning environment for them while their parents were working. The Migrant and Indian Coalition, now the Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC), received federal funding to provide services through “Mid-Columbia Head Start.”

In the year 1987, Mid-Columbia Children’s Council was incorporated and separated from OCDC to become an independent agency. At that time, centers were in operation in Hood River, White Salmon, Pine Grove, Parkdale and The Dalles. The agency served ninety-seven preschool aged children in the Combination Model.

The Office of Head Start, Oregon Pre-Kindergarten, and ECEAP offered competitive grant opportunities to expand preschool and zero to three services throughout the 1990’s. In 1991, MCCC added the OPK program and in 1995, ECEAP. Early Head Start expansion, with ninety-four new slots was completed in 1998. With state and federal expansion, the program grew to serve five hundred children and families, in fourteen centers, in five counties and two states.

In the summer of 2009, members of the Management Team wrote a grant for funding through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). The grant was awarded which allowed MCCC to expand Early Head Start services for an additional fifty-four pregnant women and children ages zero to three. In spring of 2010, the Oregon Department of Education awarded MCCC with an additional five EHS slots in Madras.

Currently MCCC has one hundred and thirty-five regular employees. With the 2007 Head Start Act, MCCC has focused on ensuring that all teachers meet the Teacher Qualifications as outlined. Professional development is supported with college tuition assistance and training opportunities for all staff members to gain knowledge and skills.