#Immigration

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Advancing the Lives of Migrant Families

Angel Casiano, ECMHSP’s Director of Programs Operations – Florida, shares his experience working with the migrant community during the last 20 years. I invite you to learn more about his story in the following interview. What is your family’s background? I am from Puerto Rico. My mom is from Puerto Rico and my dad from Dominican Republican. I have 11 siblings and most of them work in the health industry. We have four doctors, three nurses, and one dentist. I left Puerto R

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
4 min

Remember Where You Came From

Laura Bush’s visit to one of our Head Start centers in the early 2000s. Pictured from left to right: Christine Alvarado, former Board Chair Kathy Freudenberg, former First Lady Laura Bush, former ECMHSP CEO Rafael Guerra, and former Senator Elizabeth Dole. In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we wanted to learn more about the organization’s Latino leaders. Christine Alvarado, ECMHSP’s Chief Innovation Officer, shares insights about the farmworker community we’ve bee

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Celebrating Our Heritage

As National Hispanic Heritage Month is upon us, we wanted to learn how our ECMHSP familia feels about this month of celebration and what opportunities our community has to embrace it. Please keep reading to learn about ECMHSP’S Board of Directors President, Dr. David Conde, as he will share how this month-long observance has evolved throughout the years. What motivated you to join ECMHSP Board of Directors? During my time as the Associate Vice Chancellor at East Carolina Univ

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
7 min

All the News That’s Fit to Print

Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with The New York Times reporter, Jason DeParle. The topic of our conversation was East Coast Migrant Head Start Project’s experience with Head Start’s Designation Renewal System (DRS). This week, all that I shared with Jason was boiled down to a single cite: John Menditto of East Coast Migrant Head Start Project warns that harsh penalties may dissuade programs from serving especially disadvantaged populations like migrants. If you

Planning for Head Start Success Through Shared Governance

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Planning for Head Start Success Through Shared Governance

Effective governance is an essential part of any successful Head Start program. East Coast Migrant Head Start Project is proud of the strong partnership we have with our Board of Directors and Policy Council! Their great leadership and unwavering dedication to the mission allows us to provide comprehensive, high-quality early childhood education and Head Start services to farmworker families. Each year, the ECMHSP Board of Directors and Policy Council meet to fulfill their

East Coast Makes a Strong Impression in Washington, D.C.

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
4 min

East Coast Makes a Strong Impression in Washington, D.C.

Attendees had the privilege of welcoming the newly-appointed Director of the Office of Head Start, Dr. Deborah Bergeron. A former classroom teacher and elementary and high school administrator, Dr. B –as she likes to be called— shared how she will use her three decades of pre-K–12 public education experience to provide unique insights into how Head Start can support our most vulnerable children to become school ready. She also talked about her recent visit to ECMHSP’s Nort

Farmworker Mom a Leader and Dreamer at ECMHSP

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
2 min

Farmworker Mom a Leader and Dreamer at ECMHSP

Migrant farmworker Meiby Mora Soto is both a leader and a Dreamer at East Coast Migrant Head Start Project. The 29-year-old mother of one has served as the president of ECMHSP’s Policy Council since her election to office by her peers in August 2017. Meiby Mora attends the 2017 National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association Public Policy Forum and Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. Ms. Mora Soto was brought to the United States of America from Mexico at the age of 14 in

Guest Post: Growing Up with a Migrant Mother

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Guest Post: Growing Up with a Migrant Mother

Photo Credit: La Voz I recently attended the funeral of our Godmother Lala Esquibel. Her passing was more than an interruption of the life our families. The closer you got to her two sons in their moment of sorrow, the more devastating was her departure. They say that funerals are a way of coping for those left behind and this certainly was a great example of that purpose. I lost my mother in 2002 after a relatively long illness. Knowing she would be gone soon, she attended o

Story of ECMHSP Dreamer Shared on Capitol Hill

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Story of ECMHSP Dreamer Shared on Capitol Hill

Leaders from the faith, business and advocacy communities read Dreamer testimonials on Capitol Hill. Photo credit: FWD.us East Coast Migrant Head Start Project is committed to preparing the children of migrant and seasonal farm workers for success. The farmworker families we serve entrust their children to ECMHSP centers while they toil in the fields every day to feed America. But many of these same families live with the fear of separation, afraid that today will be the last

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
2 min

Farmworker DREAMers Are Here to Stay

Supporters of DACA gathered outside of the White House following the administration’s announcement. This morning, United States Attorney General, Jeffrey Sessions, announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is ending. Shortly after the announcement, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services released information on how DACA will be wound down. Individuals with DACA applications and renewal applications currently pending will have thos

Guest Post: David Conde Feels Strongly About the Future of Latinos in America

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Guest Post: David Conde Feels Strongly About the Future of Latinos in America

Dr. David Conde; Photo Credit: La Voz Bilingüe David Conde is not a stranger to immigration, immigrant rights or immigrant needs. In fact, he grew up in a migrant home as part of a family that “traveled the country to put food on people’s tables,” as he tells it. Boards of Directors Professionally, he has both literally and figuratively continued to put food on people’s tables. Conde has spent most of his life fighting to strengthen and uphold immigrant rights. He is the Pr

ECMHSP on the West Coast for NMSHSA Conference ‘17

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
2 min

ECMHSP on the West Coast for NMSHSA Conference ‘17

The National Migrant & Seasonal Head Start Association (NMSHSA) held its Annual National Conference in Costa Mesa, CA, from March 5 through March 9. A number of our dedicated employees travelled to the conference to learn about the changes to the Head Start Performance Standards, which were rolled out last summer. It was a great opportunity to hear about implementation strategies and the importance of being outcomes-driven in our execution. Parents from Migrant and Seasonal H

Guest Post: A Country Without Immigrant Labor

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Guest Post: A Country Without Immigrant Labor

Dr. David Conde is the President for North America of the Chamber of the Americas. He currently serves as the President of the ECMHSP Board of Directors and is a contributing writer for La Voz Bilingüe. This is his latest article. Dr. David Conde has seen the contributions of the immigrant community from his years of service on the ECMSHP Board of Directors and his personal experience. You may have been watching a replay of Roots, the Alex Haley classic that traces American

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
2 min

Supporting our Immigrant Families

Children at our centers benefit from the multiculturalism celebrated in our classrooms. ECMHSP is proud to serve America’s farmworker families, a challenging task that we have lovingly undertaken for more than 35 years. Many of these farmworker families immigrated to the United States, bringing with them their rich cultures, languages, and beautiful traditions that are passed down to their children. The children enrolled in our Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program benefi

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
4 min

Maria’s Excellent Adventure

Maria was one of the first farmworkers to apply for DACA, which would allow her to travel outside of the U.S. with Advance Parole. Twenty-three-year-old Maria Sanchez Martinez is the former Vice President of East Coast Migrant Head Start Project’s Policy Council. In August of 2012, she was one of the first farmworkers to submit an application for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which has allowed her to lawfully work in the U.S. and consequently, has improved th

U.S. Representative Mike Kelly Visits ECMHSP Center in Pennsylvania

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

U.S. Representative Mike Kelly Visits ECMHSP Center in Pennsylvania

Sister Diane Rabe is the Director of Child Development Programs at the Saint Benedict Center. This is her story about the visit of U.S. Representative Mike Kelly. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” — John Maxwell On Wednesday, October 19, U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) visited the Saint Benedict Center, the ECMHSP delegate agency in Erie, Pennsylvania. Leonor Saldaña, the center’s Policy Committee President and member of the ECMHSP Po

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
2 min

ECMHSP Steps on to the Red Carpet

Immigration Film Festival of Greater Washington, a three-day festival featuring more than twenty films highlighting both the plight and the contributions of recent immigrants to the United States. The festival aims to put faces on immigrants and tell the stories of global immigration through film, the most popular of media. Last June, we wrote a blog post to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month in which we debut the short documentary, “Para Los Niños” (For the Children). Filmma

ECMHSP Welcomes Senators Kaine and Warner’s Staff to the Virginia Eastern Shore

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
2 min

ECMHSP Welcomes Senators Kaine and Warner’s Staff to the Virginia Eastern Shore

ECMSHP welcomes visitors from Sen. Kaine and Sen. Warner’s DC office in our Parksley Head Start center. On Thursday, August 25, East Coast Migrant Head Start Project welcomed Karishma Merchant (from Senator Tim Kaine’s Washington, DC office) and Lauren Marshall (from Senator Mark Warner’s Washington DC office) to our Head Start centers on the Virginia Eastern Shore. Karishma and Lauren had reached out to ECMHSP so that they could learn more about the important work that we d

Summer Interns of ’16 Take a Walk Down Memory Lane

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
3 min

Summer Interns of ’16 Take a Walk Down Memory Lane

The NMSHSA Internship Class of 2016 take a lunch break during their visit to Virginia’s Eastern Shore and its farmworker families. “Going through the center and seeing those little kids I saw my brother, I saw my two sisters, I saw myself – all present in the form of these young souls.” – Misael Rangel On Friday, July 22, our Head Start Center in Parksley, Virginia, hosted a visit by the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association’s Summer Internship Class of 2016.

Guest Post: Success Doesn’t Fall from the Sky

ECMHSP Website

Nov 3, 2021
4 min

Guest Post: Success Doesn’t Fall from the Sky

Misael Rangel is part of the 2016 NMSHSA Summer Internship Program and as a child was enrolled in the ECMHSP Fort Pierce Head Start center in Florida. This is his story. My name is Misael Rangel. I was born and raised in Fort Pierce, Florida. I am the son of Teresa and Ignacio Rangel, who immigrated to this country in search of a better life by escaping the poverty of their hometown in Guanajuato, Mexico. When they arrived in Florida, my father began work picking oranges. Aft

Indiana Direct Services

Indiana Regional Contact Information

Volunteer

Volunteer

Disability Services

Disability Services