[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 45, Volume 4]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 45CFR1305.3]



[Page 146-148]

 

                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE

 

CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 

                           AND HUMAN SERVICES

 

PART 1305_ELIGIBILITY, RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE 

IN HEAD START--Table of Contents

 

Sec. 1305.3  Determining community strengths and needs.



    (a) Each Early Head Start grantee and Head Start grantee must 

identify



[[Page 147]]



its proposed service area in its Head Start grant application and define 

it by county or sub-county area, such as a municipality, town or census 

tract or a federally-recognized Indian reservation. With regard to 

Indian Tribes, the service area may include areas designated as near-

reservation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or, in the absence of 

such a designation, a Tribe may propose to define its service area to 

include nearby areas where Indian children and families native to the 

reservation reside, provided that the service area is approved by the 

Tribe's governing council. Where the service area of a Tribe includes a 

non-reservation area, and that area is also served by another Head Start 

grantee, the Tribe will be authorized to serve children from families 

native to the reservation residing in the non-reservation area as well 

as children from families residing on the reservation.

    (b) The grantee's service area must be approved, in writing, by the 

responsible HHS official in order to assure that the service area is of 

reasonable size and, except in situations where a near-reservation 

designation or other expanded service area has been approved for a 

Tribe, does not overlap with that of other Head Start grantees.

    (c) Each Early Head Start and Head Start grantee must conduct a 

Community Assessment within its service area once every three years. The 

Community Assessment must include the collection and analysis of the 

following information about the grantee's Early Head Start or Head Start 

area:

    (1) The demographic make-up of Head Start eligible children and 

families, including their estimated number, geographic location, and 

racial and ethnic composition;

    (2) Other child development and child care programs that are serving 

Head Start eligible children, including publicly funded State and local 

preschool programs, and the approximate number of Head Start eligible 

children served by each;

    (3) The estimated number of children with disabilities four years 

old or younger, including types of disabilities and relevant services 

and resources provided to these children by community agencies;

    (4) Data regarding the education, health, nutrition and social 

service needs of Head Start eligible children and their families;

    (5) The education, health, nutrition and social service needs of 

Head Start eligible children and their families as defined by families 

of Head Start eligible children and by institutions in the community 

that serve young children;

    (6) Resources in the community that could be used to address the 

needs of Head Start eligible children and their families, including 

assessments of their availability and accessibility.

    (d) The Early Head Start and Head Start grantee and delegate agency 

must use information from the Community Assessment to:

    (1) Help determine the grantee's philosophy, and its long-range and 

short-range program objectives;

    (2) Determine the type of component services that are most needed 

and the program option or options that will be implemented;

    (3) Determine the recruitment area that will be served by the 

grantee, if limitations in the amount of resources make it impossible to 

serve the entire service area.

    (4) If there are delegate agencies, determine the recruitment area 

that will be served by the grantee and the recruitment area that will be 

served by each delegate agency.

    (5) Determine appropriate locations for centers and the areas to be 

served by home-based programs; and

    (6) Set criteria that define the types of children and families who 

will be given priority for recruitment and selection.

    (e) In each of the two years following completion of the Community 

Assessment the grantee must conduct a review to determine whether there 

have been significant changes in the information described in paragraph 

(b) of this section. If so, the Community Assessment must be updated and 

the decisions described in paragraph (c) of this section must be 

reconsidered.

    (f) The recruitment area must include the entire service area, 

unless the resources available to the Head Start grantee are inadequate 

to serve the entire service area.



[[Page 148]]



    (g) In determining the recruitment area when it does not include the 

entire service area, the grantee must:

    (1) Select an area or areas that are among those having the greatest 

need for Early Head Start or Head Start services as determined by the 

Community Assessment; and

    (2) Include as many Head Start eligible children as possible within 

the recruitment area, so that:

    (i) The greatest number of Head Start eligible children can be 

recruited and have an opportunity to be considered for selection and 

enrollment in the Head Start program, and

    (ii), the Head Start program can enroll the children and families 

with the greatest need for its services.



(The information collection requirements are approved by the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB Control Number 0970-0124 for 

paragraphs (b) and (d).)



[57 FR 46725, Oct. 9, 1992, as amended at 61 FR 57226, Nov. 5, 1996; 63 

FR 2314, Jan. 15, 1998; 63 FR 12657, Mar. 16, 1998]