Most Americans are blessed with several resources that can provide their children with an education at an early age.

Research has shown that children exposed to educational opportunities at an early age develop faster throughout life.  In this county, there are two programs that provide this opportunity for low-income families, Early Head Start and Head Start.

Another effort is gearing up, Excel By 5, to help with those efforts as well. By March, a resource center will open its doors to the public to provide even more ways for families to ensure their children will get the best start to an education.

The resource center will also offer services for adults.  For the most part, we assume that everyone knows how to read, or graduated from high school.

But for a minority of the population, that’s just not the case. Even with all the advances our state has made in providing an education to everyone, some people still fall through the cracks. Some decided to leave high school before graduation for a variety of reasons. Some people come from countries that don’t utilize English as the main language.

That’s where this resource center will come in. It will offer GED and high school diploma programs that will allow interested parties to secure those certificates at their own pace.

An enhanced literacy support and training program will feature a bi-lingual staff member fluent in Spanish to assist those who are willing to learn English.

Before this program is implemented, families in the Picayune School District will receive letters informing about the program’s availability and seek comment about interest in other services.

It’s great to see that even though the Legislature has not fully funded education in Mississippi, our local educators are finding inventive ways to ensure that everyone receives the best possible education.