JOIN US  FOR A NIGHT OF LEARNING, LAUGHTER AND EXCITEMENT! WE PROMISE IT WILL BE A NIGHT YOU WON'T SOON FORGET!

Join us in the perfect forum to share, examine and spotlight innovative work from our local Head Start and Early Head Start Community! These innovative practices posters will offer our community an opportunity to see, listen and learn about bright ideas happening across our state. Our hope is that these posters might stimulate or “plant a seed” from where you can take an idea and make it your own. In addition, this poster session will not only professionalize our work and showcase these innovative improvements, but it also encourages an informal, creative space and time for conversations among colleagues to happen.  Most importantly, it leads us to make new connections and build working relationships that can almost be as important as the posters themselves. Innovation is key to our professional success!

After the poster session, join us for our SECOND ANNUAL Dinner and Soiree! 

This SOIREE is NO ordinary EVENT!   This is the only dinner where you can pay to have anyone in the room get on stage and sing any song you can think of--whether or not they know the words, and whether or not they can actually sing. That’s because it’s YOU who is in charge at this event. Turn the tables on your Director by asking him or her to get on stage and perform. “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” tends to be a crowd-pleaser, but it’s really anything goes after a while. But be warned, if someone pays $1.00 to have you perform on stage..YOU CAN OUTBID them by paying $2.00 in order to NOT have to go on stage. This is the only dinner where your "Head Start Celebrity Waiter" may actually hide your silverware and ask you to “buy” it back for a $1.00! Or take your rolls and and ask you to "buy" them back for $1.00!

Of course all the tip money is happily passed on to the $2.00 per child mission.

Things can get a little crazy BUT OUR (BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND) MASTER OF CEREMONIES, "CHELLO" will be playing the best requested music and keep the event moving at a brisk pace.              

Bring lots of single $1.00 bills because "if" you get called to stage...don't forget....you can outbid the amount to ensure you don't have to perform! Guests can also participate in the 50/50 raffle or buy raffle tickets to win some great auction items or one of the fabulous centerpieces that are created and donated our Head Start Agencies!

This soirée is a great way to bring our Head Start community together to learn, eat, laugh, network and have a blast all while raising funds to directly support the $2.00 per child mission. Don't miss out on the FUN!

This is a very silly and fun-filled event but it is also a very important one as all proceeds will support the $2.00 per child mission. We are committed to the belief that every child, regardless of circumstances at birth, has the ability to succeed in life. Millions of children are in desperate need of the window of opportunity for success in life that Head Start provides. Through $2.00 Dollar per Child, the Illinois Head Start Association and National Head Start Association ensures that the voices of these at-risk children and their families are heard. Convincing Congress (and voters who are leery of any national program) can be extraordinarily difficult these days. That’s why it is crucial that we have a $2.00 dollar per child campaign - two dollars for each of the children in the Illinois Head Start program across the state. IHSA & NHSA support Illinois Head Start programs and their work by advocating at the state and national level. $1 will be sent to NHSA and the remainder will stay in Illinois for the local association’s work.