When Maricela’s oldest son was a baby, he wouldn’t talk; he just cried and cried.
Maricela enrolled him in Los Angeles Education Partnership’s (LAEP) Early Head Start program and remembers feeling immense gratitude when, with the help of the program, her son’s speech improved and he could use his words to tell her what he needed.
That baby is now 13 years old and doing well.
Maricela still remembers and appreciates the impact of LAEP’s Early Head Start program on her son when he was a baby.
“I want to thank you for supporting me during that time,” she said to LAEP staff member Reyna just this fall. Maricela, now a mother of four, had seen Reyna in LAEP gear at a South Los Angeles school and stopped just to express her gratitude. Then, Maricela asked if LAEP was still working with parents in the community.
“I was excited to learn I could enroll my baby,” said Maricela, whose youngest child is now in LAEP’s Early Head Start program thanks to her encounter with Reyna. Maricela is eager to help her littlest one learn and knows LAEP will support her in that endeavor.
Reyna was also impacted by the interaction, saying, “It gave me chills to see how long we’ve been in the community and how we have made a difference. Families are there, and they are looking for us.”