Today, during National Head Start Awareness Month, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., announced the Department of Health and Human Services awarded a renewal of $3,481,376 to the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute’s Early Head Start projects, known as Project Eagle.
The renewed funding will be used to prepare vulnerable children in Wyandotte County for life inside and outside of the classroom through programs focusing on early learning, health, and family well-being. Children who participate in Head Start programs receive benefits that appear immediately and last a lifetime, a spokesman stated.
The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the education, health, and nutrition of all young children, but at a disproportionate rate for students of color, the spokesman stated. Head Start programs around the country work daily to emphasize children’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.
Project Eagle will use this grant to ensure access to education and health programs for Wyandotte County pregnant women, young children and their families through comprehensive screening and referral services, high quality early childcare, and home visiting programs, the spokesman said.
“The first few years of a child’s life are critical for healthy development, and no one understands that quite like the folks at Project Eagle,” Rep. Davids said. “We are already starting to witness the pandemic’s adverse effects on our children, making these funds more important than ever before to keep them on a path for success. KU Med Center’s work truly improves lives—children who participate in Head Start are healthier, have better social skills, and are more likely to graduate high school and achieve further education. I cannot wait to watch them help even more children with this new funding.”
“This federal support allows us to serve more than 400 children annually, providing essential home visiting services and early childhood education services in our Educare Center to families and children ages 0-5 at no cost to the family,” said Lisa London, director of Project Eagle. “Being a part of the Head Start community and the Educare Early Network provides opportunities for the children and families in Wyandotte County they may not have had access to otherwise.”
In order to curb child poverty and support early childhood development, Rep. Davids also voted for the American Rescue Plan which expanded and improved the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to deliver a new tax cut to middle- and working-class families with children. Not only will the CTC directly impact 77% of the children in the 3rd District, research finds that increasing family incomes has concrete positive outcomes for children, including higher test scores, higher graduation rates, improved health outcomes, lower rates of incarceration and higher future earnings, the spokesman stated.
