The Central Alabama Child Development & CDC Inc., located at 713 J.L. Chestnut Blvd., will hold a free community wide meeting/forum Thursday, April 12 at 5 p.m. to discuss its Head Start program.

Event organizers invite parents, businesses and officials to come and ask questions and hear about what the organization has to offer.

“The purpose of the community wide meeting is to get our community informed about Head Start and what we’re all about in the community, and get them involved,” Regina Woods, parent involvement manager, said. “If we — members of the community and the Head Start family, can collaborate with one another, maybe we can have an event calendar and the community could be more involved.”

The forum, Woods said, is a first for the organization.

“We’re trying to see the response,” Woods said. “Every parent who has a child in our Head Start program … local businesses (Department of Human Resources, Central Alabama Regional Child Advocacy Center, SABRA Sanctuary), are invited to come.”

Woods said the event will be informative.

“Information will be shared to take back and get the word around as it relates to Head Start to get more parental involvement in the community as a whole,” Woods said. “We also want to implement more activities for our adults, youth and young children, talk about the dropout rate, (how we can) curtail teen pregnancy, drugs and gangs.”

For more information call 875-2450 or email Woods at regina.woods@cacdcdc.org.

The Head Start program with the organization was revamped in August 2011. The Head Start program is currently housed in four locations including GWC Homes, J.L. Chestnut Boulevard, Dallas Avenue and the St. Elizabeth’s School.