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Head Start! A Trip to Mount Hood Community College

February 22, 2013

Congressman Earl Blumenauer visited Mt. Hood Community College this week, touring the campus' new state-of-the-art Early Childhood Center. The facility is the first building to be constructed at the college in almost three decades, opening in late 2011 as a joint venture between Mt. Hood CC and Head Start.

Funded in part with Department of Education grants and federal stimulus dollars, the Early Childhood Center features eight classrooms, multiple indoor and outdoor play facilities specific to each age group, sustainable building materials, and a nutritional model that even participates in Michelle Obama's Farm-to-Table kitchen initiative (Check out their experience in the program here!)

The visit also included a roundtable discussion with faculty and staff of the university, highlighting the ever increasing diversity of the region, the typical debt profile of a community college student, and how immigration reform will positively affect the outlook for many of the college's students.

"There is a whole generation of young people who are literally without a country," Congressman Blumenauer said. "Community Colleges provide a point of entry, an educational transition for millions of children and young adults who are already a part of the fabric of our communities to gain a path to citizenship."

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