Our Past

Community Services for Children, Inc. was established in 1981 by Patricia W. Levin, the first executive director, as the sponsor of the Head Start program in the Lehigh Valley.  Head Start is a pre-school education and family development program designed to address the special needs of low-income families and their children.  This national program began in 1965 as an 8-week summer demonstration project.  Prior to 1981, Head Start was administered locally by Colonial Northampton Intermediate Unit #20 followed by the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley.

Other milestones include the following:

• 1965 Began Head Start as summer program in Easton founded by Judith Chase
• 1967 Expanded Head Start to Lehigh and Northmpton Counties
• 1972 Started home-based services to serve rural areas
• 1982 Established TOT-INFO child care resource and referral service
• 1985 Began to administer subsidized child care in Lehigh County
• 1996 Initiated Early Head Start for children prenatal to 3
• 1998 Named as PA's Child Care Resource and Referral Developer for 15 NE PA counties
• 2001 Moved into newly acquired and renovated "Donley Children's Campus" in Allentown
• 2003 Established Early Head Start/SafeStart for Fragile Families program
  * 2007 Add PreK Counts Preschool through state funding