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Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services
 HHS News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Contact: Chris Downing
ACF Press Office (202) 401-9215

HHS Awards $2.9 Million To Support 30 Head Start Innovation Projects

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced thirty Head Start planning grants totalling $2.9 million for innovation and improvement projects.  Awardees represent a range of national, state and local organizations and many new to the Head Start community.  

“Today’s grants continue our commitment to strengthening the Head Start program so children and families can receive quality services and education,” Secretary Thompson said.

The innovation and improvement projects will be funded for a one-year planning phase.  Awards range from $51,000 to $100,000 in funding.  Twelve of the 30 projects will begin April 1, 2004 and the remaining 18 will begin September 1, 2004.  Based on availability of funds and successful completion of the planning phase, these organizations will be eligible for future implementation funding for up to three years.

“From literacy to fatherhood, positive youth development to better serving rural communities, Head Start will be an even stronger program as a result of these grants.  The winners will be children and families across the country,” said Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., assistant secretary for children and families at HHS.

The 30 funded projects will best support the Head Start Bureau’s mandate to strengthen the overall program nationally as well as improve some critical issues faced by specific states and special populations.

The entities funded for the one-year planning phase grants are:

University of Cincinnati               Cincinnati, Ohio                                          

This project will increase the pool of qualified teachers through a comprehensive approach aimed at both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking teachers and parents.  Increases are anticipated in Hispanic and bilingual teachers and staff with literacy skills in both languages, increases in technology skills, deeper early childhood knowledge, and enhanced teaching skills.  Associate degrees in early childhood education are also anticipated.    [$93,001]         

Jane Adams Hull House Association               Chicago, Illinois                            

This project will demonstrate a unique method of parent participation and governance in a largely English as a Second Language population.  The grantee will develop a parent-child literacy interaction scale, as well as training tools, guides and provide technical assistance. [$100,000]

Council Trenholm State Technical College               Montgomery, Alabama        

This project, while partnering with many community organizations, will target specific literacy services to Head Start parents, youth and teachers.  They will create a “Comprehensive Network for Teaching Early Readers” which will be implemented in seven counties.  [$100,000]

University of Oklahoma/American Indian Institute               Norman, Oklahoma    

This project, through partnerships with ten tribal entities nationwide, will develop an intergenerational and culturally-appropriate Tribal and Alaska Native positive human development and community-building initiative. This family-centered, Tribally based initiative will be based on reflecting resiliency and a strengths perspective. [$99,750]  

Youth Development, Inc.               Albuquerque, New Mexico                        

This project will create a “one stop” system where families will receive services that focus on the entire family unit. The project includes a mentoring program for high school students and provides employment opportunities for those interested in the early childhood teaching field.  [$100,000]

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.               Baltimore, Maryland                  

This project, supported by the national Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, will identify 50 pilot sites to target strengthening the role of fathers in Head Start and in the lives of their children, prepare a fatherhood curriculum, and develop and conduct training which will be available to all Head Start programs.  [$99,308]

Missouri Department of Social Services               Jefferson City, Missouri            

This project will provide interventions to strengthen low-income families with children that have an incarcerated father or father under supervision of the probation or parole system.  Multiple stakeholders will develop a comprehensive statewide plan that promotes efficiency within statewide systems and the usage of already available technology to address the effects of incarceration and poverty on young children and their families.  [$99,268]

Children First, Inc.               Sarasota, Florida                        

This project will develop a replicable model to provide parenting courses to incarcerated fathers and then to establish a support system to connect them to their families and their communities upon their return to society.  [$70,600]  

Children’s Hospital                Boston, Massachusetts                

This project has formed a community partnership with Head Start, community health, early care and education providers and Harvard Graduate School of Education to develop an intervention model targeting prevention, identification and treatment of depression in parents, both mothers and fathers.  It will result in a manual-based training and a service program that can be replicated nationally.   [$99,388]

We Care America               Washington, D.C.                        

This project is a collaborative effort between local faith-based intermediaries, Head Start grantees and a national organization to mobilize faith-based and grassroots community-based organizations to provide support services for high risk families with young children and teens.  [$99,147]

Mountain Missions Development Corp.               Somerset, Kentucky                  

This project is a faith-based sponsored initiative designed to improve and expand services offered to Head Start eligible families living in the Eastern Kentucky Appalachia Mountains.  This proposed interdenominational faith-based model for state planning in rural communities will work with over 700 churches, faith-based organizations and other partners in 47 counties.  [$100,000]  

University of Washington               Seattle, Washington                  

This project will develop, implement and evaluate an Early Childhood Caries prevention model in four associated Pacific territories: Federal States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, and Guam.  This project is designed to become a model for other Pacific territories and for mainland rural communities that face the same dental issues.   [$100,000]

Volunteers of America              San Diego, California  

This Early Head Start project is designed to build “Language and Literacy Development in High-Risk Families:  Facilitating Adaptive Strategies for Serving Parents and Children with Disabilities.”  The goal is to strengthen literacy development in families as well as provide professional development for staff.  [$97,750]

Child Development Resources              Norge, Virginia

This early literacy project for infants and toddlers will use a storybook approach based on research of children’s development in listening, speaking and language skills.  The 1-2-3 READ materials will be implemented with the targeted population.  [$98,599]

University of Arkansas for Medical Services              Little Rock, Arkansas

The Family Foundations Project proposes to improve child outcomes by increasing resources to families, staff capacity to engage and strengthen them, and parent availability for interactions.  This approach will provide parenting interventions in brief doses over an extended period of time and in immediate response to families' need for assistance.  [$92,774]

Western Dairyland & Economic Opportunity Council, Inc.          Independence, Wisconsin  

This project will provide additional dental health care services to low-income children and their families in rural areas through the use of mobile dental equipment.  Special attention will be given to pregnant mothers of Head Start children. [$65,937]

Children’s Home Society of Washington              Seattle, Washington

This project is based upon bringing research into educational practice through interactive tools.  The “Brain Development Kits” which encourage early literacy and attachment, will be used with Early Head Start children and parents in the population to be served. [$100,000]

Columbia University, Health Sciences Division               New York, New York

This project, Relationships for Growth (RfG) is an early intervention approach to promote social-emotional development and improved child outcomes in Head Start.  The foundation of this systemic approach is staff training and development.  [$99,977]

Circles of Care, Inc.              Melbourne, Florida

This project will develop a research-based model program to provide teachers and children in the selected Head Start classrooms with training to foster mental health development and build protective cognitive, emotional and behavioral skills.  The Violence, Intervention and Prevention program (VIP) will develop effective interventions to involve parents, with an emphasis on inclusion of traditionally underrepresented fathers.  [$51,160]

Western Kentucky University Research Foundation          Bowling Green, Kentucky

This project seeks to affirm and establish the outdoor learning environment as a major contributor to the physical, cognitive and social-emotional development of Early Head Start and Head Start children.  Head Start Growth and Readiness in the Outdoor World (Head Start – GROW) will establish up to 12 demonstration sites and a training program.  [$100,000]

Education Development Center, Inc.               Newton, Massachusetts

This project will develop a Training and Technical Assistance Planning Toolkit to guide diverse, multi-disciplinary teams from local Head Start programs through a 10 step process to better prepare them to develop and submit training and technical assistance plans for Federal approval.  [$100,000]

Utah State University               Logan, Utah

This project will extend the benefits of updated hearing screening practices to migrant, American Indian, and Early Head Start grantees nationwide and to ensure that all children with hearing health needs receive timely and appropriate intervention. [$99,996]

Academy for Educational Development               Washington, D.C.

This project focuses on supporting the male involvement and early literacy needs of Latino Head Start families.  “Las Manos de Apa” will develop the skills of Head Start staff by working directly with fathers.  [$99,137]

The Ohio State University Research Foundation               Columbus, Ohio

This project will establish a Head Start Technology Resource Center with a one stop location for Head Start grantees to access resources and obtain support.  Through this approach the project will increase effective use of information technology to improve the delivery of services to Head Start children and families.  [$100,000]

University of Florida & Florida Museum of Natural History          Gainesville, Florida

This project will use classrooms to test two types of curriculum, Marvelous Explorations through Science (MESS) and Creative Curriculum.  Results will be the demonstration of a replicable museum-library-Head Start partnership utilizing a new literacy-based curriculum that includes unique ways to involve fathers in children’s learning that extends beyond preschool years.   [$99,591]

Community Development Institute               Denver, Colorado

This project provides a guide and other materials for assessing and instructing children to improve and accelerate their acquisition of English and literacy skills, based on extensive research into the four stages of second-language acquisition and the best instructional practices of teachers who are experienced in teaching “English Language Learners” children.  [$100,000]

Apple Tree Dental               Minneapolis, Minnesota

This project will address the dental needs of children, specifically those with special needs in rural areas through teledentistry and mobile care.  Results will include direct dental services and a replicable model.   [$100,000]

Curators, University of Missouri               Kansas City, Missouri

This project will improve services to families in rural areas with an emphasis on fathers.  A proven training infrastructure that enables extensive involvement of Head Start programs with other human services in their local communities across Kansas and Missouri.  [$99,344]

Brazelton Touchpoints Center               Boston, Massachusetts

This project plans to increase culturally diverse family involvement, with added attention to fathers. Through enhanced coordination in urban and rural settings and across a multidisciplinary system of care and outreach to Head Start children and families, improved programming in literacy and all other skill areas will occur.  [$100,000]

University of Hawaii               Honolulu, Hawaii

This project will serve children in urban O’ahu and rural areas of Maui with appropriate cultural focus on Asian and Pacific populations.  It will increase coordination between rural and urban areas and will be integrated into the State’s school readiness standards.  [$100,000]

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news

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Last Updated: March 25, 2004