Head Start – Early Head Start Program provides learning and development services to low-income families and children from birth to age 5.

Serving Syracuse, Liverpool, Baldwinsville, Jordan-Elbridge, and LaFayette.
Apply Online: www.peace-caa.org/hs or call at Early Head Start – Head Start Application Line (315) 634-374.

For more information about the Head Start – Early Head Start program, call our Intake Department at (315) 470-3346 ext. 303, 343 or 348.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ll highlight women who work at PEACE Inc. Today and share Teresa Piedmonte’s story!

Teresa Piedmonte began working at PEACE, Inc. in October of 2020. She works as the Facilities Officer Manager, which includes taking care of the paperwork, issuing purchase orders, maintaining payroll, and ordering and tracking inventory. When asked what gets her out of bed in the morning, she said, “My job. I love the people that I work with and what we do here.” Teresa explained that her team is what makes her job special. “I could not do my job without my team here.”

She also explained that PEACE’s goal and mission statement inspires her work, stating, “I love that I know that we are helping out the community; I know that we are making a difference, which is what is most important to me.”

In honor of Women’s History Month, Teresa described what this month means to her. “It means that we are no longer portrayed as just housewives.” It shows that we are equal to that of men and that we would take on any challenge they throw at us to ensure equality.
Womanhood represents bonding and working together to become more than what we have always looked at. We are showing that we will come together to make a change. Teresa shared that her goal is always to be learning, that there are new things around every corner, and that we can always grow.

During #AmeriCorpsWeek, we’re thrilled to recognize our #AmericCorpsSeniors foster grandparent volunteers who choose to make a difference through #service. Thank you for serving the children of Syracuse.

“The heart of a volunteer is not measured in size, but by the depth of the commitment to make a difference in the lives of others.”

Teddi Heffernan has just marked her 32nd anniversary with PEACE, Inc.! For 20 years she was a Kitchen Manager and then Food Production Manager for the Head Start program, and for the past 12 years she has been the Food Production Manager at our kitchen on Pickard Drive in Mattydale, which serves both Head Start and the Senior Nutrition program. This already complex set of responsibilities has become even more complicated in recent years. While food production needs have continuously shifted, and while congregate meal sites for seniors have been making a comeback, Teddi has had to navigate a difficult supply chain to ensure that safe and healthy meals continue to be provided to everyone we have an opportunity to serve.

Thank you, Teddi, for everything you do, and congratulations on being chosen as our Employee of the Year for 2022 !

Phoo: 2022 Employee of the Year Teddi Heffernan, with (L to R) Food Services Director Randy LaManche and Executive Director Carolyn Brown