ELIGIBILITY for all programs is based on the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Most slots are filled income eligible families; however, the Head Start and Early Head Start programs may enroll up to 10% of families who are over the Federal Poverty Guidelines. BTHS, Inc. also has PA Pre-K Counts funded classrooms that have higher income guidelines.  Bradford-Tioga Head Start, Inc. provides services to children who meet certain categorical criteria such as homelessness, Social Security Income (SSI), Foster Care/Kinship Care, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Food Stamps (SNAP).

Programming for Bradford Tioga Head Start, Inc. is funded by grants provided by the federal government, through the Department of Health and Human Services, and the state government, through the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Currently the federal government provides a grant to fund HeadStart and Early Head Start programming. The state provides grants to fund Head Start and PA PreK Counts programming.

Each classroom is funded by one funding source or a combination of federal and state sources to provide children with the highest quality programming for 5 ½- 5 ¾ hours a day 180 days a year.

The federal grants require the program to provide matching non-federal funds at the rate of one dollar for every 4 dollars of federal funding provided. Both the federal and state governments allow the use of state funds to meet the non-federal share requirement. As state expenses are incurred, these funds are used as the non-federal share.

Bradford Tioga Head Start, Inc. also participates in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). CACFP provides reimbursement for meals served to children in our program.

Our preschool classrooms are designed for children ages 3 to 5 years old who are not yet eligible for kindergarten.  Children attend class between 5.5 and 5.75 hours a day, five days a week, 180 days a year, August through June.

Each classroom is staffed with a Teacher, Teacher Aide, and Classroom Aide.  Our highly qualified staff provide a consistent routine and daily schedule that supports activities to foster school readiness for children of all developmental abilities. The small staff to child ratio (3:17) provides opportunities for staff to work one on one with children and develop lessons to increase social/emotional, cognitive, language and physical development. 

Staff meet with parents to review their child’s progress and to provide various skill development activities to do at home with their child. We recognize parents are the child’s first teacher and play a key role in their child’s school readiness. 

Transportation is available at many locations and nutritious breakfasts and lunches are served daily.  Children receive developmental, language, hearing and vision, screenings, with follow-up if needed.

Bradford-Tioga Head Start, Inc. offers home-based Early Head Start for pregnant mothers and infants up to three years of age.  The Early Head Start program is built around the understanding that parents are their child’s first teacher. In Early Head Start, a Family Partner visits the home for 90 minutes each week to model activities and techniques from a research-based parenting curriculum. This allows the family and the Family Partner to work together to enhance a child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as healthy prenatal outcomes for expectant mothers. In addition to the weekly home visits, Family Partners organize monthly Family Play Groups in which families are encouraged to come together for socialization, activities, healthy snacks, as well as time to share ideas and information. Early Head Start focuses on a child’s education while promoting a healthy family foundation based on the individualized needs of each family.   The Family Partner works with the family to develop goals, identify beneficial supports and resources in the community, and assist in aligning family members with the needed supports and resources.