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Vallejo Times-Herald - More than $10 million going to Solano, Napa Head Start programs

July 6, 2015
News Articles

Rachel Raskin-Zrihen

Some $10.9 million of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant is coming to Head Start and Early Head Start services throughout Solano and Napa counties, Rep. Mike Thompson's office announced Monday.

The award is the first installment of a five-year grant which Child Start, Inc. won through a competitive process established by Health and Human Services. Child Start, Inc. will receive a grant of the same amount for the next four years.

"Everyone, no matter who they are or where they're from, deserves an equal opportunity to work hard, get ahead and succeed," Thompson said in a statement. "The Head Start and Early Head Start services provided though Child Start, Inc. make sure our kids have a foundation for success that's rooted in education and strong, healthy development. I am proud to support Child Start, Inc. and this grant which will allow them to continue doing great work in our community."

Ensuring the highest quality services for families and children has always been Child Start's main mission, its executive director Debbie Peralez, said in the same statement.

"We know that families rely on Head Start for early care and preschool services because they want what any parent wants; to ensure that their children are prepared for school and have the skills they need to succeed," she said. "We look forward to continuing our work on their behalf."

Head Start is a federal program that promotes school readiness for children from birth to age 5 from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social and emotional development, the statement notes. Besides education and cognitive development, programs provide comprehensive services to enrolled children and their families, including health, nutrition, social services and others determined to be necessary.

For every dollar spent on Head Start, our country realizes almost nine dollars in benefits through participants' increased earnings, decreased welfare dependence and other factors, according to the statement.

Head Start was founded as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty in 1965.

Since then, Head Start has grown from an eight-week demonstration project to having served more than 31 million children and their families in urban and rural areas in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories, the statement notes.

Issues:Education