Our July Jeans BeCause recipient was Riverbend Head Start & Family Services. For over 90 years, Riverbend Head Start & Family Services has embodied itself in their mission to serve those living in Madison County.
Starting in 1916, a group of civic-minded individuals created a family oriented agency named Alton Public (Welfare) Council with a mission to help impoverished mothers care for their own children, and to provide care to people in their own homes.
In 1923 Alton Visiting Nurse Association merged with the organization. The two organizations formed Associated Charities. In 1954 the name changed to Family Service and Visiting Nurse Association to more accurately reflect services given.
Through the following years the organization began to provide counseling to adolescents and their families, became the grantee for the federal kindergarten readiness program called Head Start, became a United Way member agency to provide mental health services on a sliding fee scale, began a federal comprehensive child development program, and re-directed their focus from healthcare to child development, family strengthening and counseling services. In 2000 the organization changed their name to Riverbend Head Start & Family Services to better reflect their focus.
To learn more about Riverbend Head Start and their volunteer opportunities, click here.
JUL