Local Head Start Leader Elected to New England Board of Directors

SPRINGFIELD — Nicole Blais, CEO of Holyoke, Chicopee, Springfield Head Start Inc. (HCS Head Start), was recently elected to the New England Head Start Assoc. (NEHSA) board of directors.

NEHSA, a membership-based, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, exists to unite and support New England Head Start programs as leaders in early education. For the past 40 years, NEHSA has worked with, and on behalf of, children, families, staff, and Early Head Start and Head Start programs located throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Blais’ commitment to Head Start is unwavering, having spent most of her career with the organization. Her first role, in 1996, was as the Parent Education and Support specialist for HCS Head Start, where she was responsible for ensuring that performance standards and other regulations related to parent involvement were upheld at all times. She spent the next decade developing and implementing various parent and family-engagement programs, supervising a team and speaking and presenting throughout the Commonwealth, as well as at National Head Start Assoc. conferences across the country.

In 2012, she transitioned to the position of director of Community Engagement, and for the next 10 years, she identified, maintained, and grew collaborations with outside agencies and community initiatives, local media outlets, political and community leaders, and funders.

Then, amid the pandemic in 2021, Janis Santos, HCS Head Start’s longtime CEO and Blais’ mentor, announced her retirement, and Blais stepped into her current position as CEO of the regional organization.

In addition to this role, she also works diligently to move the mission of Head Start forward while keeping the needs of Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield on the radar. In that effort, she served multiple terms on the Massachusetts Head Start Assoc. board of directors, which serves as the voice of nearly 30 Head Start and Early Head Start organizations across Massachusetts, before accepting this new election onto the New England Head Start Assoc. board.

Blais also serves the community as a Springfield Regional Chamber ambassador and Holyoke Rotary Club member. She attended Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and did her graduate studies in nonprofit management and philanthropy at Bay Path University.