As a longtime advocate of inclusive education, Beyond Blindness is meeting an urgent need in the community through an exciting new partnership with Orange County Head Start, which will launch in the summer of 2025.
Programs like OC Head Start are leveling the playing field for children with disabilities. Here in California, Head Start programs have served more than 80,000 children and their families since 1995, creating a foundation of lifelong learning through experiences tailored to their unique educational, emotional, social, health, and nutritional needs. This partnership will deepen our work in the inclusive early education space, creating more meaningful opportunities for children with visual impairments and other disabilities to learn and grow alongside their sighted peers. Eligible families at Beyond Blindness will be able to receive free, comprehensive, no-cost services in an inclusive learning environment on our Santa Ana campus. Upon official opening, we will offer childcare from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a year-round basis.
Over the coming months, we will begin implementing an enhanced curriculum as well as facility upgrades on campus that will include classroom improvements and two renovated playgrounds for the preschool children, infants, and toddlers. We are grateful for the support of our generous partners that have made these playground renovations possible: The Dean Family, the Del E. Webb Foundation, the Dhont Family Foundation, Enterprise Bank, and Pacific Life Foundation, with seed funding from Orange County Head Start.
Like Beyond Blindness, Orange County Head Start has made inclusion one of its core values. High-quality inclusion in early education doesn’t just benefit children with disabilities — it supports the development of all children, helps them build relationships with their peers, and fosters a sense of belonging. An inclusive learning environment provides an opportunity for children to develop respect and understanding of others while skilled professionals employ teaching strategies that meet each student’s individual developmental needs.
With the launch of this new partnership, we have an opportunity to advance inclusion here in Orange County and meet the needs of all students — creating a solid foundation for their future health, social-emotional development, and learning success, regardless of their abilities.
Upon official opening, we will offer childcare from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a year-round basis.
For questions about our new partnership with OC Head Start, please contact Angie Rowe at angie.rowe@beyondblindness.org.