Daily Hampshire Gazette
SPRINGFIELD, May 29, 2024
Nicole Blais, chief executive officer of Holyoke, Chicopee, Springfield Head Start, Inc. (HCS Head Start) was recently reelected to the Massachusetts Head Start Association (MHSA) board of directors and additionally will serve as treasurer.
MHSA serves as the voice of nearly 30 Head Start/Early Head Start’s across Massachusetts. The not-for-profit membership organization provides collaborative learning opportunities, leveraging partnerships, and advocating for Head Start programs.
Blais has spent most of her entire career with Head Start. Beginning in 1996 as the parent education and support specialist for HCS Head Start she was responsible for ensuring that Head Start performance standards and other regulations related to parent involvement were upheld at all times. For a decade she developed and implemented various parent and family engagement programming.
In 2012 Blais transitioned to the position of director of community engagement where she again spent almost another 10 years supporting the work of HCS Head Start.
Blais is a lifelong resident of Springfield.