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National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement

Start Early leads the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, providing training & technical assistance to build capacity and strengthen Head Start professionals’ relationship-based practices to support families.

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The National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (NCPFCE) promotes excellence through the development of high-quality training and technical assistance (TTA) and practical resources that reflect current evidence, are research-informed, and promote best practices in professional development and adult learning.

Offerings range in topic area, including:

  • Family and community engagement
  • Health and well-being
  • Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment, and Attendance (ERSEA)
  • Family services and experiences
  • Building early childhood education program capacity

Our Core Values

The NCPFCE approaches its work with a mindset grounded in the perspective that program and family voices should continually be at the heart of the work. It also promotes reflection in its TTA efforts to ensure continuous quality improvement and data-informed action, growth and sustainability across all its experiences and projects.

The NCPFCE is part of a federal TTA system consisting of national centers, a regional TTA network and grant recipient funding. The NCPFCE builds the capacity of Head Start and Early Head Start programs as they provide high-quality, comprehensive services to expectant parents, children and families and support the school readiness of young children who live in poverty.

The NCPFCE is proud to collaborate with other federal national centers, including:

  • National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operations
  • National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning
  • National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety

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NCPFCE Reach & Impact

With a $5.7MM annual budget, a team of dedicated staff and its partners from Child Trends, LIFT and the University of North Carolina’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, since kicking off work under Start Early’s leadership, NCPFCE has:

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Reached more than 42,961 participants through regional and national professional development offerings

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Provided training at more than 179 virtual and in-person professional development events

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Developed and disseminated parent, family, and community engagement resources to Head Start audiences through HeadStart.gov, which were accessed by more than 569,160 users, had over 1,919,663 page views, and more than 289,324 total downloads

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Family Services Workforce Institute 2025

June 17th-18th, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM CT

Are you a program director or family services manager looking for strategies to help you build and maintain a strong, qualified, and skilled family services team in your Head Start program? Registration is now open for the virtual two-day Family Services Workforce Institute 2025!

Join this free professional development event to learn more about and better support the mission-critical family services workforce. Office of Head Start (OHS) leaders, National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (NCPFCE) specialists, national organization experts, and featured guests will be on hand to facilitate discussions. Come ready to learn, build community, network, and plan with peers.

Click here to register.

The Institute plenaries are offered in English, with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish. Learning tracks are presented in English and Spanish.

Resources & News

Tips to Support Family Services Staff Wellness

Whether you are a family services professional or home visitor, or a supervisor or program leader who supports staff in these roles, your efforts make family engagement possible. Everyone is more effective in their work, however, when they feel well. Staff wellness is an Office of Head Start priority.

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Engaging Parents with Disabilities and Learning Differences

This resource provides information, suggested strategies, and links to resources that support Head Start staff in their efforts to engage parents and caregivers with disabilities and learning differences.

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Tips from Parents to Support Parent Employment in Head Start Programs

Explore the key milestones described by parents that led to their employment in a Head Start program. Learn and implement the parent-recommended strategies to support parent employment intentionally and successfully in your program.

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Contact Us

For questions or to learn more about the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, reach out to our team.

email our team

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Visit HeadStart.gov

Visit HeadStart.gov to learn more about the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement.

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Text4FamilyServices

Family Services Professionals in Head Start programs can subscribe to receive support and enhance their daily work with families.

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This website is supported by Grant Number 90HC000021 from the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of Start Early and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Head Start.