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Palm Beach County seeks $14 million for Head Start
July 13th, 2008
By John Johnston
Managing Editor
The Palm Beach County full day/full year Head Start and Early Head Start program budget is $23.1 million for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. 2009. Palm Beach County commissioners in turn have applied for $14.4 million in federal funding – precisely the amount requested from Federal sources for the current fiscal year. The federal funding breaks down as follows:
- Head Start, $12,611,541
- Early Head Start, $1,719,500.
Commissioners said the funding would provide comprehensive child development services to 1,871 (3-5 years old) and 180 pregnant women, infants/toddlers and economically disadvantaged county children. Total program funding of $23.1 million breaks down as follows:
- Federal: $14,331,041.
- Children’s Services Council, $454,964.
- Palm Beach County, $3,582,760.
- Overmatch funding, $4,775,149.
Overmatch money also comes from the county and is defined as the amount added to the total budget, and in addition to whatever required match is needed.
To comply with new Head Start staff qualification requirements, commissioners have also applied for a $62,173 Competitive Training and Technical Assistance grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. The county has in turn agreed to add a $15,543 overmatch to fund the anticipated training requirements.
43 Years
The Head Start program began 43 years ago 1965 with an announcement by then President Lyndon Johnson that it was one of the centerpiece elements in his “War On Poverty” – and by 1974 had served 5.3 million children.
At first, Head Start was an eight-week summer program staffed by thousands of volunteers from across the nation. The plan was to open the doors to a few thousand children nationwide; however, more than 561,000 children showed up that first year.
Some 43 years later, the program has expanded to a full day, full-year program for children of poverty and currently has a budget of $6.8 billion, serving about 850,000 children annually.
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