Calling all QC Head Start alumni to Moline

After years of being closed, Project NOW’s Esperanza Center is open, as two Head Start classrooms are operating in the Floreciente neighborhood, 335 5^th Ave., Moline.

On Tuesday, Oct. 31^st, at 8:45 a.m., Project NOW is organizing a reunion of sorts. Instead of as a day care for infants and toddlers, as it was since 2016 (until COVID), the building has become a new Head Start center under Project NOW, serving 50 children ages 3-5.

Project NOW Head Start director Andrea Flannery at the Esperanza Center, Moline (photo by Jonathan Turner).

Head Start director Andrea Flannery knows the Quad-City area is filled with graduates of the Head Start program and is calling on them to come line the halls and give “high fives” to the students as they enter the building, according to a Monday release from Project NOW.

“The Floreciente community has always embraced Project NOW’s Head Start. We have a long and rich history partnering with this community to enhance lives,” she said. “We want to show today’s Head Start children they are being supported and their future is bright.”

Flannery says the alumni should arrive at the school on Tuesday about 8:45 a.m. –park in the lower parking lot and enter the double doors. Project NOW has been approved to open four classrooms which provide free, high-quality early childhood education for up to 80 children in the city of Moline.

Project NOW executive director Dwight Ford at the new Head Start at Esperanza Center (photo by Jonathan Turner).

Project NOW executive director Dwight Ford says the reopening of the center is a perfect example of what community collaboration and targeting resources for early childhood education can produce.

“The center will also support families by providing assurances their children will receive a first-class education while the parents can take advantage of economic opportunities which can benefit the family,” he said in Monday’s release. “When we invest in children, the entire community will yield of lifetime of returns.”

Head Start services are provided through two options: center-based and home-based in three counties: Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer. Head Start is provided at no cost to income eligible families with children 3-5 years old, including children with disabilities or other special needs.

Parents interested in enrolling their children at Project NOW Head Start can apply online HERE or call one of the locations below to schedule an appointment between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.