July 12, 2018

Duckworth, Durbin Announce More Than $9 Million for Central Illinois Head Start Programs

 

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced a total of $9,175,062 in federal funding today to help children from low-income families in Central Illinois access Head Start, Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs. This funding comes through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) that allocates funding, technical assistance, strategic partnerships and more in order to help promote the social and economic well-being of children and families.

“I’m proud to support programs like Head Start that give children in Central Illinois a fairer shot at reaching their full potential,” Duckworth said. “When we invest in childhood education and parental support services, we help provide children with the tools they need to succeed both in and outside of the classroom.”

“This federal funding helps ensure that children in Central Illinois have the strong educational foundation they need to succeed from elementary school to college and beyond,” Durbin said. “The Head Start and Early Head Start programs are sources of countless success stories in Illinois and remain crucial for healthy development and school readiness.”

The following Central Illinois providers will receive funding for Head Start and Early Head Start programs under this announcement:

  • Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (Champaign, IL): $2,595,734
  • Embarras River Basin Agency, Inc. (Greenup, IL): $1,824,551
  • Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois (Lincoln, IL): $1,696,429

The following Central Illinois provider will receive funding for Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs under this announcement:

  • The Illinois Department of Human Services (Springfield, IL): $3,058,348

The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission currently serves more than 576 children and their families each year, with centers in Champaign, Rantoul, Savoy and Urbana providing full-day and part-time programs for children ages 5 weeks to 5 years. Embarras River Basin Agency, Inc. serves children and families in Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Jasper, Lawrence and Richland counties. The Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois serves children from birth to 5 years in Logan, Fulton, Mason, Piatt, DeWitt and Menard counties.

The Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program provides child care and a comprehensive program of health, parent involvement and social services for preschool children of low-income migrant and seasonal farm workers for children through age 6. All programs focus on education, nutrition, socio-emotional development and physical and mental health.

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