• Looking for Child Care in an educational setting? ICS has you covered.
• Nationally recognized high-quality program! Winner of three National Head Start Awards, and numerous state and regional awards yearly. 
• Applications for your child may be started online by clicking HERE. Call your local HEAD START CENTER or 662-252-1582 ext. 149 or 104 for Head Start or ext. 140 for Early Head Start (EHS).
• Applications for your child may be started online by clicking HERE. Special needs, chronic medical conditions, and incomplete toilet training are not barriers.  Apply.
• ICS is in Benton, Clay, DeSoto, Grenada, Lafayette, Lowndes, Marshall, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate & Tunica counties.
• FREE – No TUITION or DAYCARE COSTS!
• Two family style USDA approved healthy meals provided daily. Your child will receive breakfast, lunch and snack at NO COST to you.
• SAFETY FIRST: Safe buses with licensed, trained drivers & Bus Monitors for safety.
• Children ride in safe buses with harnesses, and assigned seats. Buses only transport pre-school age children. 
• Not only is the Bus Driver trained & licensed, Bus Monitors help teach the children on boarding and off boarding procedures with Child Safety always put first.
• SAFE ENVIRONMENT for EARLY LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT. Smoke / tobacco free environment.  Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors at centers.  Monthly fire / disaster / evacuation drills.  Intruder safety procedures.  For safety and sanitation, Universal precautions are used.  Soil and water tested centers.
• All our centers are firmly constructed. ICS does not use mobile unit classrooms. 
• The majority of our centers, sixteen, have been built in this new century.
• PARENT COMMUNICATION is KEY! 99% of the enrolled families say they made progress toward meeting their family goals & needs.
• High quality Early Learning Child Curriculum. Educational credentials of our teachings staff are above the national Head Start average.  99% of the families say teachers listened, respected and supported their family.
• Centers have computer learning experiences for children and Zoom meeting capacity for parents and staff.
• Good health and a safe environment give children a head start at learning. 98% of our parents report that the environment and staff were welcoming and friendly.  ICS encourages and assists families with acquiring medical and dental connections for the children. 
• When employment opportunities occur, current and former parents are given priority if qualified.  ICS is a long-term program starting in 1965 as a two-county program and has now grown to exist in fourteen Mississippi counties.
• ICS operates twenty-two Child Development Centers with twenty-one centers operating Head Start Pre-school classes and eighteen centers with Early Head Start (EHS) programs for Infants & Toddlers. Our Central Office includes another EHS center for a total of nineteen EHS locations.
• ICS partners with many (15 currently) public-school Pre-K partners on classes and MS Dept. of Education (MDE) classes in Tallahatchie, Grenada, Oktibbeha, Lowndes,Tate, Noxubee, and Lafayette counties and two private daycare partners.
• ICS has remarkable achievements in Finance receiving clean audits over and over! A rare accomplishment.

ICS IS THE BEST!

DRIVEN by DATA, PARENT INPUT & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

• 99% of our parents believe that the ICS programs are effective.
• 99% of the families say teachers listened, respected & supported their family.
• 99% reported the teachers “respected & accepted my child as an individual.”
• 99% of our parents say that ICS provides their child a safe and educational place to learn and grow.
• 99% of our parents report they learned the importance of being involved in their child’s education.
• 98% of the ICS parents state that their child benefitted socially and emotionally from the program.
• 99% of our parents expressed feeling more confident at school year end about their parenting skills.
• 98% report that their child’s health habits improved and also improvements for the child’s behavior!
• 97% of the enrolled families report receiving helpful parenting information.
• 94% of the parents believed they were involved and engaged in their child’s learning activities.
• 99% of the families report satisfaction with medical services provided.
• 100% say they are satisfied with dental services.
• 95% say that parent meetings & trainings were “helpful to our family.”
• 96% of the parents were aware of informational trainings/activities provided throughout the school year.
• 99% felt comfortable leaving their child at the Head Start center each day.
• 98% reported that the environment and staff were welcoming and friendly.
• The ICS Parent Gauge program is a scientific research-based monitoring and achievement instrument. In the first year, our Pilot Year, outcome yields show that 98% of the parents responding believed that “ICS has provided activities that help me get my child ready for school.”
• 98% of the Parent Gauge parent responses show a belief that “ICS helped me understand why I need to make sure my child is in class every day.”
• With Parent Gauge, 91% of the parents answering questions report “ICS helped me learn how to speak up for my child’s educational needs.”
• In Early Head Start (EHS), the ICS program average is 97% for parents actively volunteering to participate in parenting sessions on the Parent Curriculum topics, while the national rate is only 43.1%.
• In EHS, 100% of ICS children have been connected with Medical and Dental providers; as well as, being complete or up-to-date on immunizations, and received at least one family social service.
• In EHS 100% of the families and children received Nutrition education, far higher than the national level of 48.5% and the state level of 62.1%.