Hernando

Hernando is proud to be a certified Excel By 5 Community!

Quality early learning experiences for all children are a key driver of school readiness, vital to improving high school graduation rates, and critical to a community’s economic success. Studies show that children entering kindergarten with the cognitive, social, and emotional skills necessary for success are more likely to graduate from high school. Our goal is to improve a child’s overall well-being by age five.  Hernando Excel by 5 sets forth various standards involving public outreach in education, childcare, safety, and health through community workshops, events, and parent trainings.

Hernando Excel By 5 offers a free children’s health fair, new parent resource guides, childcare training, car seat safety checks, and bicycle safety instruction. It also offers a Power of Produce program at the Hernando Farmers Market to encourage healthy eating habits, promotes early literacy through intergenerational reading programs, the Hernando Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and free children’s books at Excel By 5 community-wide events.

The Hernando Excel By 5 Coalition consists of members from Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, Desoto and Senatobia Children’s Clinics, DeSoto Community Health Center, DeSoto County Schools, Early Childhood Academy, First Regional Library, Hernando Chamber of Commerce, Hernando Head Start, Hernando child care centers, Hernando Farmer’s Market, Hernando Parks and Recreation, Methodist Hospital Olive Branch, Mississippi Department of Health, and other concerned citizens.