LHDC Receives Funding for New Early Head Start Program
to Serve 72 Families and Create 13 New Jobs
Lincoln Hills Development Corporation (LHDC) Executive Director, Larry K. Kleeman, announces that LHDC has received approval of funding in the amount of $683,685.00 to initiate a new Head Start program – Early Head Start – to serve families in Crawford, Harrison , Perry and Spencer Counties , Indiana .
With the recent approval of LHDC’s application submitted last June to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS ), Administration for Children and Families, LHDC will be able to implement this new program to serve 72 families in these counties, with program services targeted toward infants, toddlers, and pregnant women. This differs from LHDC’s current Head Start program in that the Head Start program serves children ages 3 – 5 years of age, and the new Early Head Start program’s focus is on the younger age group. Services will be provided primarily through a home-based program option; however, some program and group socialization activities will occur in LHDC’s center facilities.
This new program will begin in early 2010, and targets children and families living at or below the federal poverty level, as well as children with disabilities.
“We are tremendously excited by this new program to provide programming to serve children and families through the Early Head Start program”, said Kleeman. “Research proves that Head Start programs provide cost effective services that save future expenditures many times over. We are grateful for HHS ’s generous support.”
According to the Children’s Defense Fund, numerous studies confirm that Head Start is effective. They find that children who have graduated from Head Start are:
- Less likely to repeat a grade in school.
- Less likely to need special education services.
- More likely to graduate from high school.
Kleeman, added, “This program was made possible through the awarding of federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus) funds. Not only do these funds allow for the implementation of new Early Head Start program services to families, they also enable the creation of thirteen (13) new employment positions. In these tough economic times and particularly with the current high unemployment rates, that is a significant additional benefit of the program’s approval.”
Kleeman continued, “This expansion of services has been many years in the making. We had tried once before for funding to initiate an Early Head Start program, but just missed in our efforts back in 2002. For this attempt, we had to document the need for the Early Head Start program, plus we submitted a very comprehensive grant application to HHS and successfully competed among other applicants throughout the United States to gain approval for the program. I especially want to compliment our staff for submitting an excellent application, and our board of directors for supporting our efforts. I believe our track record with HHS of providing quality Head Start services for over 44 years was significant in our selection for an award as well.”
This new program will be implemented within the Youth Service Bureau (YSB) division of LHDC, with longtime LHDC YSB Director, Jan Sprinkle , serving as Early Head Start Director. “I’m very excited by this opportunity to provide new services for families,” said Sprinkle. “We look forward to getting program staff hired and trained, and ramping up for the initiation of services to families in early 2010.”
For more information about Early Head Start in Crawford, Harrison , Perry or Spencer Counties , Sprinkle will serve as the contact person initially, until local program staff is hired. Sprinkle can be reached at (812)547-3435, or toll free at 1-800-467-1435 .
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