EXCERPT FROM: WNYC.org
By Cindy Rodriguez
NEW YORK, NY April 12, 2010 —The city's Administration for Children's Services says it's raising the quality of subsidized childcare programs for kids under five. The agency says now families can expect more classroom staff, on-site social workers, eight-hour days all year long, and frequent progress reports. The programs serve mostly low income families. The new programs will be modeled after Head Start, the well-regarded program that is currently reserved for only the neediest families.

EXCERPT FROM: WCTV.tv
Press Release
ATLANTA, Ga., (January 4, 2010) – The 2008-2009 data for Georgia Head Start, Early Head Start and Migrant/Seasonal Head Start was released by the Georgia Head Start Collaboration Office and there is good news for Georgia’s children. Last year, Georgia Head Start was funded to serve 23,247 children – however, the program was actually able to reach nearly 28,000 children by offering blended services to children and their families. Georgia’s Pre-K Program and Head Start are able to serve 4,000 more children by partnering to provide blended caseloads statewide.

FLORENCE - The Florence school district plans to expand its Head Start program in January.

UNION -- Head Start, an educational booster program for the rural poor, has been awarded a $50,000 state grant for improvements to the Endicott Children's Center in the Town of Union.

MHCC offers free childcare if students meet income requirements for Head Start eligibility and if they are enrolled in at least nine credits per term.

We started this series with a train metaphor, describing early education programs as trains moving down various tracks to deliver children to elementary school ready and eager to learn. More than a decade ago, when a few states started developing new paths for publicly funded preschool, the tracks already laid by Head Start seemed outdated and distant from what states were constructing. The unspoken, yet as it turns out, overstated, assumption was that state pre-K was aiming for literacy and kindergarten readiness, while Head Start was pointed toward children's health and social well-being.

Head Start, the largest federally funded program for children under 5, has been offering free preschool and health services to poor children and their families for nearly 45 years. It has seen growth and stagnation, controversy and quiet. Today, with the Obama Administration signaling its intent to increase federal funding to support young children, one might think that Head Start was poised to enter one of its most expansive periods ever.

Nathanael Pomiabo saw firsthand how Head Start helped his son, Daelan.

A new era began this week with the city-run, federally funded Head Start program. After three decades of contracting with Parent Child, Inc., or PCI, to run the program, the city farmed the Head Start program out to several different agencies, including school districts.

In Luzerne County, some much needed money is on the way for a program that helps children.