Meet David Facciolo: Head Start board member receives service award

Wilmington native David Facciolo was presented with the Ethel M. Cooper Outstanding Service Award for his contributions to New Castle County Head Start and the greater community.The New Castle County Head Start board member took the time to discuss the future of the program and more.

Q) Explain how you got involved with New Castle County Head Start?

A) In 1991 the board was realizing that they wanted at least one lawyer. At that point it was a very small, kind of an inbred board, and I was recommended by two persons because I had previously served on the Governors Advisory Council for the needs of kids.

Q) How do you feel now that you're a recipient of the Ethel M. Cooper Award?

A) I actually was surprised, because I actually was the person that initiated the existence of the award. And this year I wasn't able to be present at the meeting where they decided who was going to get it. So I've now learned that you have to attend every meeting if you want to protect yourself from getting awards.

Q) As a board member, what are your responsibilities with Head Start?

A) I'm involved in Head Start as one the persons that helps to develop the board and select new board appointments. And I work with two other members on the board for that. The idea is to get a board that is diverse in every way, in terms of representing the community, in terms of the socioeconomic make-up, but also in terms of having accountants, decisions, social workers, [and] persons with knowledge of pre-K child development on our board, at any given time. 

Q) In what ways has working with youth made you a better person?

A) I have actually been involved with working with youth since I first started my career. I was the head of the family court public defender unit, at two different intervals of my career, for about five years each. In that realm, I actually was able to be the person that developed sentencing guidelines for juveniles so that you don't just lock them up for some kind of crimes, but you don't just give them a pat on the wrist either. And I have kind of regarded it as my personal legacy. I don't have children currently. I'm very involved with my own family, my nieces and nephews. But I regard what I do as my daily work. And my community work as my way of passing on knowledge, mentoring and kind of letting people in the future benefit from my experience.  

Q) What's your philosophy on serving children and families in the community?

A) I think you have to recognize that children are just like the cliché, they're our future, but families are also our future. A lot of people, for instance, don't know that Head Start actually has a component that can help assist the parents in pursuing some of their education, or other types of areas that they want to pursue.

Q) Where do you see New Castle County's Head Start in five years?

A) It already serves, I think, about 600 youths. I think that it probably will be exploring, as it does every two to three years, what population areas have a greater need. Where we go, in terms of expansion, depends upon how much support there is from the federal government, because about 90 percent of the funding for Head Start comes directly from the federal government. I think the goal is every child that has a need that can qualify would be eligible to be a participant at Head Start.