VALDOSTA — East Coast Migrant Head Start Project is expanding its Early Childhood Education Services to Valdosta.

The new ECMHSP educational campus in Valdosta will serve farmworker families in the counties of Echols Lowndes, Brooks, Berrien, Lanier and Cook.

ECMHSP supports children in families engaged in harvesting fruits and vegetables and working in packing houses, along with those working in poultry, dairy farms, aquaculture (fish farms), pine straw farms, greenhouses and plant nurseries.

“We serve essential workers that put food on our tables. Every day Americans taste some fruit or vegetable picked by a farmworker,” said Maria C. Garza, chief executive officer of ECMHSP. “We provide professional services including educational, health and nutrition to their children. We prevent the children from unnecessary exposure to the dangers of pesticides and other hazardous conditions of agriculture work. Our commitment is to provide high quality educational services to our children.”

Garza said during Valdosta community assessments, ECMHSP identified more than 70 children in urgent need of childcare services. Thanks to an expansion grant, East Coast Migrant Head Start Project will be able to work hand-in-hand with the local community to prepare the children for school readiness and success.

Pat Martinez, ECMHSP chief of staff, said “We are so grateful to be in the Valdosta community and making a local economic and workforce impact.

“East Coast Migrant Head Start Project brings economic prosperity to the surrounding communities and secures our nation’s food supply. The local economic impact is approximately $850K.”

Karla Kildare, Valdosta Educational Campus Director, said, “We are celebrating the work of my team and the support of our administration and community partners, especially Grace Victory Church for allowing us to use this space.”

“The family and children are our main goal and this is just the beginning of great and wonderful things,” she said.Lizmarie De La Cruz, parent president, said she is excited to represent the parents and families that the ECMHSP serves.

The Valdosta Campus is currently serving approximately 20 children. Kildare gave a tour of the newly renovated facility to attendees at a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The new East Coast Migrant Head Start Project Educational Campus is located at 303 Barack Obama Blvd.East Coast Migrant Head Start Project was established in 1974 through a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Currently, ECMHSP operates in 42 direct Educational Campuses and six delegates across 10 states providing holistic, early childhood education services for approximately 3,000 farmworker children between six weeks to six years old.