FILLMORE : Head Start Preschool Formally Dedicated

A rush of childhood memories overcame 13-year-old Fatima Chavez as she addressed the crowd Thursday at the grand opening of the new Head Start preschool in Fillmore.

The reluctant guest speaker burst into tears while conjuring up remembrances of her godmother, Meliss Wade, the longtime farm-worker benefactor for whom the new facility is named.

“I remember her gifts were always different than any others because she would give me books,” said Fatima, who attended the old Head Start preschool in Fillmore when she was younger.

“She always said it would help me to know the world better,” said Fatima, who now volunteers after school at Meliss Wade Head Start.

Nearly 100 people crowded onto the patio of the preschool in the Rancho Sespe Housing Development to formally dedicate the preschool center.

It replaces a smaller Head Start campus that had operated near downtown Fillmore since 1970. The new center boasts two large classrooms, a playground, kitchen, offices and an expansive multipurpose room.

“It’s an incredible experience to see children grow and develop their skills,” said Head Start teacher Terri Davis, who said preschool prepares young people for the rigors of later life. “If they don’t have a foundation to start with, they would be lost.”

The facility is a joint project of the nonprofit Child Development Resources, which administers 17 Head Start centers in Ventura County, and the Rancho Sespe Workers Improvement Assn., the homeowners group that leased the space to the nonprofit group for $1 a year.

“We are trying to give back to the community some of what we’ve gotten,” said Jaime Zepeda, a Rancho Sespe homeowner whose daughter attended the Head Start preschool. “It’s not only Rancho Sespe children who come.”

Rancho Sespe is a cooperative affordable-housing project of 100 units built by the Cabrillo Economic Development Corp., which also helped open the new preschool.

Zepeda said the Rancho Sespe homeowners wanted to name the preschool after Wade, who died several years ago, in honor of her long-term commitment to farm workers and low-income families in the area.

“She was always worried about the little kids and she was a strong supporter of our labor struggle and our housing struggle,” said Zepeda, a former farm worker.

Nely Carrillo said the preschool activities have helped her 5-year-old daughter, Cristal, who spends four hours a day at the Meliss Wade Head Start Center.

“It gives her many ways to develop her skills,” Carrillo said. “It helps her get ahead.”