Mid-Iowa Community Action, Inc. (MICA)

Healthy Child Care Iowa supports local Maternal and Child Health agencies to define the role and responsibilities of the Child Care Nurse Consultant. CCNCs work with Iowa Early Care and Education programs to provide free services. The CCNC program is evidence-based and helps to ensure that children have access to healthy and safe care. CCNC’s are required to complete the Iowa Training Project for Child Care Nurse Consultants (ITPCCNC) training.  The purpose of ITPCCNC is to expand the nurse’s knowledge and skills to work with early childhood care and education providers.

The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federally-funded program by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) designed to assist low-income families meet the cost of home heating. LIHEAP provides a one-time payment to the heating utility department.

This program is not designed to pay a household’s total energy costs, but to provide assistance in the payment of residential heating costs for eligible households.  Households who reside in subsidized housing that are individually metered and responsible for paying their primary heating costs are eligible.  Subsidized households that are master metered are usually not eligible to receive assistance benefits

The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) is a program established to help reduce the heating and cooling costs for low income persons, the elderly, disabled, and children, by improving the energy efficiency of their homes. The program also fixes certain health and safety problems in the client’s homes, maintains affordable housing for low-income persons, reduces utility cost, and reduces environmental pollution.

The Early Head Start (EHS) program is for low-income infants, toddlers, pregnant women and their families. EHS programs promote children’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development, support parents’ efforts to fulfill their parental roles, and help parents move toward self-sufficiency.

As the nation’s leading federally funded early learning program, Head Start serves children and families in every state. Head Start’s role in each state differs based on local systems and models. The purpose of Head Start programs is to promote the school readiness of children ages 3 to 5 years. Most of these programs are based in centers. In other programs, children and families may receive services from educators and family service staff who regularly make home visits. Parent involvement is encouraged and support is offered for children with disabilities.