WASHINGTON D.C. >> U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson and John Garamendi announced a $939,062 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant for Lake Family Resource Center.
The funding will be used for the center’s Early Head Start program, which provides expectant mothers and low-income families with children up to 3 years old with services and resources such as child development, prenatal education, family services and parent involvement activities.
“Through Early Head Start, the Lake Family Resource Center provides a wide array of benefits to young children and parents, all of which help to make sure families have a foundation for success that’s rooted in education and strong, healthy development,” Thompson said. “This grant will allow our resource center to continue its important work and I am proud to support its funding efforts.”
The reauthorization of the Head Start Act in 1994 made it possible to establish Early Head Start as a program to serve infants and toddlers under the age of 3 and pregnant women. Early Head Start provides early, continuous, intensive and comprehensive child development and family support services to low-income infants, toddlers, pregnant women and their families.
“Head Start programs are already transforming lives in Lake County and across the country, and this grant for the Lake Family Resource Center is going to much good for parents and children in our community,” Garamendi said. “This grant will give our children a greater chance to excel at an early age and help make families stronger.”
The goals of Early Head Start are to provide safe and developmentally enriching caregiving which promotes the physical, cognitive, social and emotional development of infants and toddlers, and prepares them for future growth and development; to support parents, both mothers and fathers, in their role as primary caregivers and teachers of their children; to mobilize communities to provide the resources and environment necessary to ensure a comprehensive, integrated array of services and support for families; to ensure the provision of high-quality responsive services to family through the development of trained and caring staff.
“Lake FRC is thrilled to receive funding to continue provision of services that help children and families to thrive,” Lake Family Resource Center Executive Director Gloria Flaherty said. “The agency is committed to strengthening families and Early Head Start builds a wonderful foundation in establishing that parents are the first and best teachers of their children.”
