Thurgood Marshall Child Development Center

The Unity Council’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs operate at five sites located throughout Oakland, providing 608 low-income families with early childhood development services. Both of these programs provide individualized early learning experiences, comprehensive family services, and opportunities for family and community participation. Services are available beginning at pregnancy and continue through a child’s transition to preschool or kindergarten. The Head Start, Pre-K, and Early Head Start Programs provide a relationship-based multilingual and multicultural curriculum designed to meet each child’s full potential. The parent involvement component provides extensive training and shared governance to prepare parents to advocate for their children, family and community as a whole. Comprehensive services are provided by content area specialists and through extensive connection to community resources. This inclusive model of service delivery and collaboration strengthens children, families and the communities in which they live. Program options include:

Home-based services include home visits and socialization experiences for pregnant mothers, newborns and preschoolers. These visits help to build a strong relationship between staff and families.
Half-day programs are available to the majority of children and their families. Head Start centers and Pre-K are open September through June, while Early Head Start program operates year round.

Full-day childcare is available at two Early Head Start locations for families with childcare subsidies and at Cal-SAFE, for parenting teens enrolled in the Cal-SAFE school located on site.
All programs offer educational and early childhood development services, health and nutrition education, advocacy, social services and assistance with community resources.