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NMSHSA Monthly Newsletter - Issue 68 - 2025

Farmworker Appreciation

Farmworker Appreciation Day was celebrated on August 6, but what does farmworker appreciation look like? One special way is by advocating for and supporting Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs! With 26 MSHS grantees operating across 34 states, these programs provide services to nearly 16,000 farmworker families!

Through unique services that cater specifically to the needs of farmworkers, these programs help families blossom beyond the fields! They not only provide early childhood education services, but also family support services and community-building events that give farmworker parents the confidence to engage with their child’s educational journey — and sometimes even advance in their own, through GED courses or other educational trainings!

Farmworker appreciation is making sure these programs stay strong for the families who keep our nation fed!

Celebrating Our Success of the FFWR Program One Last Time

It is with great pride that the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association (NMSHSA) officially announces that, as a USDA grantee in the FFWR program, we have successfully reached 80,298 individuals for the benefit, after registering nearly 84,000. This number exceeds our original contract goal of reaching 78,876 farmworkers!

We thank the 26 MSHS grantees, NORC, and our other partners who joined forces with us to reach farmworker families across 41 states. Ultimately, we conducted over 800 in-person registration events and received several thousand individual registrations by appointment.

We want to thank everyone who helped make the program a success. Whether you took part in our focus groups, organized registration events, or stayed in contact with us during the project, we value your support! Throughout the project, USDA has consistently acknowledged the effective system and strong network that NMSHSA has built, thanks to all our great MSHS programs, which made this possible. Thank you for supporting farmworker families who feed America!

We thank the NMSHSA Board of Directors for trusting us with this program. Special appreciation goes to our Project Director, Tadeo Sáenz-Thompson; West Coast Program Coordinator, Joseph Castro; East Coast Program Coordinator, Lorena Olivares; Finance Resource Officer, Silvia Pacheco; Program Analyst, Aidan Fuentes; and FFWR Grant Information Agent, Alicia Valdés, for their hard work and dedication.

We proudly celebrate this victory today and hold it close in our hearts as we move forward into future endeavors. It's a wonderful reminder of what our MSHS familia is capable of achieving ★

A thank you video from our team from us to YOU!

2026 NMSHSA Annual Conference

It is with great excitement that we announce our dates and locations for the 2026 NMSHSA Annual Conference! From March 7-12, join the NMSHSA team and our MSHS family from across the country in Costa Mesa, California at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa Hotel for a week of joy, learning, and empowerment! 

Applications for our Clint Mitcham Scholarship and Bill Castellanos Scholarship will open on September 22 along with nominations for our prestigious Plate of Bounty Award. The deadline to submit for each of these is December 12, at 5pm ET. Stay tuned, more information coming soon.

Scholarships and Plate of Bounty will be announced at our Annual Conference! We look forward to seeing our MSHS family once again and encourage our members to bring someone new to experience our this one-of-a-kind conference! 

2026 California Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Conference

NMSHSA is thrilled to say that the 2025 California MSHS Conference was a success and because of that, it is making a comeback in 2026! We will be partnering with our friends at Stanislaus County Office of Education in Modesto, California to bring this conference to life for the second year in a row! 

Stay tuned as we get ready to announce the date and hotel location. In the meantime, keep this event on your radar and share it with your Migrant and Seasonal Head Start educators! This year we hope to bring in and see more teachers from around the country who have never experienced our MSHS community in this special way before! 

2026 NMSHSA Summer Internship Program

The summer may have wrapped up, but that doesn't stop us from the excitement of recruiting the next cohort!

Help us get the word out! Applications for the 2026 NMSHSA Summer Internship Cohort will open October 2 with a deadline on January 31, 2026. 

Keep an eye out on our social media for more details and reminders as the dates approach. 

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Job Center

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If your organization is interested in publishing a new job announcement, please complete the contact us form, selecting the category Job Opportunity.