Head Start and Early Head agencies nationwide were presented last month with an opportunity to grab one of 123 grants designed to improve quality and accountability of services following regulations announced by President Obama in November 2011.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) said on July 25 that about half of the latest grant opportunities will replicate a birth-to-five pilot initiative launched in February that encourages applicants to develop innovative plans to deliver services to children from birth through kindergarten entry in a single application.
The pilot program, deemed a success by ACF, rolled out in Detroit, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Jersey City, N.J., and Sunflower County in Mississippi.
Kenneth Wolf, an ACF spokesman, told School Transportation News, that these services include the transportation needs of Head Start children as a one of several “developmental services.” Other services covered under the grants are the identification of children with disabilities by local Head Start agencies and addressing their needs, dual language learners, homelessness and children in foster care.
Applications should identify and address any barriers to parent participation, such as the lack of transportation access or a need for childcare, when providing a plan to facilitate “meaningful engagement” of Head Start Families. Wolf also pointed out that grant applicants must also demonstrate the ability to provide necessary transportation as part of its “timely and efficient implementation of all program components and services.”
These opportunities were selected for the birth-to-five initiative because the current grantee already provides both Head Start and Early Head Start in the same community.
The 123 new grant opportunities can be found on www.grants.gov. Interested Head Start agencies have the next three months to complete their applications. An applicant support website is available to help organizations with the application process.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in December 2011 notified 132 Head Start grantees that they had been designated to compete for continued federal funding because they failed to meet seven minimum standards of service laid out a month earlier by the Obama Administration. HHS said at the time that the regulation “helps direct taxpayer dollars to programs that offer high-quality Head Start services and works to ensure that Head Start programs provide the best available early education services to children in every community.”
Then, this past January, the Office of Head Start notified certain Head Start grantees not meeting minimum service requirements that they would be required to apply for continued funding through an open competition with other potential providers in their communities.
