Barriers to Addressing Family Mediators of Literacy, Employability, and Substance Abuse: How Head Start Programs Collaborate to Meet Their Families' Needs

Abstract

This paper presents analyses of data collected in 1994 through the National Survey of Head Start Family Self-Sufficiency Initiatives, a survey that examined how Head Start grantees and delegate agencies were addressing family mediators of literacy, employability, and substance abuse. In this study, analyses of Head Start programs' collaborative relationships and community partnerships were presented. These include: 1) the barriers identified in helping Head Start families obtain services to address needs in these areas; 2) the relationship between perceived barriers and Head Start programs' actual collaborations; 3) the types of collaborations into which Head Start programs enter; 4 ) factors that affect the establishment of collaborative relationships; and 5 ) those variables that influence whether programs are likely to view a factor as facilitating or impeding their ability to establish collaborative relationships.