Manchin, Capito Announce Head Start Funding

Select Head Start programs in the state are about to receive some financial help.

  

Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced more $1.8 million in funding today for head start programs in the state.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources Administration for Children and Families. The Eastern Allegheny Council for Human Services Head Start in Hardy County will receive 1.7m, and the West Virginia Department of Health Human Resources will receive $125,000.  Funding will allow the continuation of established health, nutrition, education and social services to families and children.  

In a release today Manchin said we prioritize commitments based on our values, and said children matter the most. Capito said while we work to create economic opportunity in the state, we must continue to enhance the lives of West Virginia’s youth. 

Clifford visits Monroe County

Monroe County, December 2015     Monroe County Early Head Start and Head Start held a Storybook Christmas and invited Clifford the Big Red Dog to host the event.  Youngsters participated in activity stations based upon various storybooks.  Students from James Monroe High School Child Development Classes ran the stations.  At each station one of Clifford’s Big Ideas was integrated into the activity. 

Clifford’s Big Ideas,  (Share, Help Others, Be Kind, Be Responsible, Play Fair, Be a Good Friend, Believe in Yourself, Respect Others, Work Together and Be Truthful) were borne out of the curriculum developed for the award-winning animated television series – which can be seen on  PBS KIDS.org  The goal of BIG Ideas is to support children’s growing understanding that the actions they choose make a difference to themselves and others.

Welcoming Clifford to Monroe County students from the Monroe County Vocational Technical Center made him a new dog house.  This served as a backdrop for pictures with Clifford.  Again, students from the vocational tech center’s Photography Class took pictures of the children with Clifford and with Santa.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Education Outreach program is pleased to work with community organizations sponsoring literacy events in their community. For more information email education@wvpublic.org.

This storybook Christmas was a BIG community affair.  Being Big is about being Big-Hearted. It’s about having a Big Spirit. Being Big is something we should all do more often.

It only takes a little to BE BIG.

 

 

Clifford and his friends in Monroe County.

Fayette, Mineral Counties Receive Head Start Funding

Fayette and Mineral counties have been awarded federal funding for Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

The Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $2 million to Fayette County. Mineral County received about $871,000.

U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced the funding on Tuesday in a news release.

Federal cuts eliminate Tucker Co. Head Start

West Virginia’s Head Start preschool program is no longer available in every county due to federal budget cuts, state officials said Tuesday.

The federally funded program helps prepare low-income children for elementary school and also provides them with meals and health care. The programs are a legacy of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1960s war on poverty.

But because of automatic federal spending cuts known as sequestration, 461 classroom spots were eliminated in West Virginia. There were 8,075 children enrolled in Head Start in West Virginia in the 2012 fiscal year, according to federal figures.

The cuts were put in place after Congress and the White House failed to reach agreement two years ago on a plan to cut the federal deficit. Funding for the program is provided in the form of grants to 21 local community organizations.

Traci Dalton, director of West Virginia’s Head Start Collaboration Office, told lawmakers during a legislative interim meeting that the cuts meant that the program had to be eliminated in Tucker County. Previously, all 55 West Virginia counties had Head Start programs in them.

Nationwide, more than 57,000 spots for children were eliminated. Dalton said West Virginia is better off than some other states because it offers a universal preschool program for 4-year-old children, and some of those who would have gone to Head Start likely enrolled in that program.

“We’re glad they’re being served somewhere, however there are services that are being lost to those families,” she said. “The health component, I mean, we have staff that are driving children to the dentist, taking families and making sure they’re getting their immunizations. … Those are the types of services that are being lost.”

But Dalton also warned that another round of sequestration would likely mean more cuts. So far, 80 Head Start positions have been eliminated, she said.

West Virginia Head Start programs receive about $55 million, down from $58 million before sequestration.

Dalton did not have an estimate on exactly how many children would be impacted or in which counties if sequestration continues. She said the average cost for each child enrolled in Head Start in West Virginia is about $7,200.

Dalton encouraged lawmakers to contact the state’s congressional delegation to get funding restored.

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