LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles— The training completed by Head Start executive Gayle Headen will ultimately benefit children and their families at the Union Baptist-Harvey Johnson Head Start in Baltimore, Maryland.
Gayle Headen is one of 41 graduates of the UCLA Head Start Management Fellows Program, an intensive 12-day leadership and management development program, conducted at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles. The program was developed in 1991 to strengthen the management and leadership skills of Head Start administrators and is currently funded by the Head Start National Center on Program and Management and Fiscal Operations.
Throughout the program, fellows are equipped with the tools they will need to effectively lead and deliver developmental services in changing environments, secure funding, efficiently implement programs and network with other Head Start executives across the nation. Since the program’s inception, some 1,450 executives have graduated with enhanced management and leadership abilities.
“Head Start creates the foundation for a wonderful future for children and their families,” said Yasmine Daniel-Vargas, director of the National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operations. “Graduates of the UCLA Head Start Management Fellows Program have introduced successful community initiatives that make a lasting impact on the health, nutrition, and school readiness of the children they serve. The commitment of the UCLA Anderson School of Management to teaching excellence is a hallmark of the program’s enduring success.”
Head Start programs provide comprehensive developmental services to low-income, preschool children and their families. Head Start also provides a range of medical, dental, mental health and nutrition care, and parent involvement services. Program directors supervise nearly 243,000 paid staff and almost 1.1 million volunteers nationwide. In 2014-15, Head Start programs served 1,100,000 children ages birth to five and pregnant moms, making a total of more than 33 million since its inception in 1965.
The UCLA Anderson School of Management is recognized as one of America’s premier graduate business schools. Its preeminent position is based on internationally acclaimed research, an innovative and distinguished faculty and exceptionally bright, highly motivated students chosen from one of the largest and finest application pools in the