Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program at UCLA to Graduate Its 1000th Participant; Program Helps Foster the Well Being of Children and Families

Business Wire, July 12, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- The Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management will celebrate the graduation of its 1000th participant with a ceremony on July 21 at the Riviera Country Club, followed by a reception honoring all graduates on July 22 at Neutrogena Corporation. This year's graduating class includes 41 Fellows from Head Start programs around the country.

The Management Fellows Program has operated for 14 years at UCLA Anderson under sponsorship from Johnson & Johnson, providing Head Start directors the opportunity to participate in a two-week intensive management training session. The ultimate goal of the program is to help the Head Start directors gain both executive and entrepreneurial management skills that will enable them to better serve the nation's children and families.

More than 250 attendees are expected to attend these commencement events, including local congressmen and a number of top executives from Johnson & Johnson and Neutrogena. Also expected to participate in the festivities is one of the nation's leading children and family advocates: Edward Zigler, Ph.D., who is known as "the father of Head Start." Dr. Zigler is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University and director of the Yale Center in Child Development and Social Policy.

"We're thrilled to have come so far with this management training program," said Prof. Alfred E. Osborne, Jr., senior associate dean and faculty director of the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management. "Even in light of having our funding from the Head Start Bureau completely cut last year, we're still proceeding with the full backing and support of our longtime partner Johnson & Johnson."

In March 2004, the Head Start Bureau determined that it could no longer continue the partnership it had established with UCLA Anderson under the original 1991 agreement. However, Johnson & Johnson has continued its energetic and benevolent support of the program.

"As one of the nation's great public land-grant institutions, UCLA has a special responsibility to use its teaching, research and service resources to make life better for those in our global community," said Prof. Osborne. "The Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program is one way that we continually help achieve this important socially responsible mission."

The principal mission of the Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program is to strengthen the management skills of Head Start directors by:

--Providing them with modern management theories and principles.

--Increasing their ability to plan, lead and control the effective delivery of Head Start services in an increasingly changing and challenging environment.

--Fostering an entrepreneurial competence and promoting a bias for action.

--Enhancing their capacity to find alternate funding sources and collaborate with other social service programs in their communities.

--Developing strategies that they can quickly implement in their programs and share with other Head Start managers.

--Establishing a network of Head Start Fellows who will assist in the management education of other Head Start directors nationwide.

The program's curriculum, which includes classroom instruction, lectures, group discussions, case studies and workshops, was developed by UCLA Anderson's Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, in conjunction with UCLA faculty, a program advisory board and field research and focus groups. The course of study addresses a number of key areas, including human resource management, organization design and development, financial management, data analysis, operations management and marketing.

Noted child development experts and members of Congress have heralded UCLA Anderson's Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program as one of the finest examples of an effective public-private partnership -- with the nation's children and their families as the ultimate beneficiaries.

In addition to celebrating its 1000th graduate, UCLA Anderson is pleased to note that the Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program has produced many accomplished Head Start executives who have made exceptional contributions to the field of early childhood development. This group includes the following individuals, among others:

--Helen Taylor, who became the Head Start Associate Commissioner in Washington, D.C.

--Ron Herndon, current chairman of the National Head Start Association

--Manda Lopez, executive director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association

--Amanda Bryans, director of operations for the Head Start Bureau

--Lawrence Pucciarelli, director for the Head Start State Collaboration for Rhode Island

About the Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program

The Head Start - Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program is a national training program established in 1991 to develop and strengthen the entrepreneurial management skills of Head Start directors and management teams. Conducted by the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the program has been consistently sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. It was launched after an extensive need assessment revealed that focused management training would ensure that Head Start program directors would be better equipped to manage limited resources in ways that would have a major impact on the services they provide for children and their families. With the conclusion of the 2005 program, more than 1,000 Head Start executives have completed the training.