Davids Announces $3.4 Million in Funding to Support Early Childhood Head Start Programs in Wyandotte County

Press Release

Today, during National Head Start Awareness Month, Representative Sharice Davids announced the Department of Health & Human Services awarded a renewal of $3,481,376 to the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute's Early Head Start projects, known as Project Eagle. The renewed funding will be used to prepare vulnerable children in Wyandotte County for life inside and outside of the classroom through programs focusing on early learning, health, and family well-being. Children that participate in Head Start programs receive benefits that appear immediately and last a lifetime.

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the education, health, and nutrition of all young children, but at a disproportionate rate for students of color. Head Start programs around the country work daily to emphasize children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Project Eagle will use this grant to ensure access to education and health programs for Wyandotte County pregnant women, young children and their families through comprehensive screening and referral services, high quality early childcare, and home visiting programs.

"The first few years of a child's life are critical for healthy development, and no one understands that quite like the folks at Project Eagle," said Davids. "We are already starting to witness the pandemic's adverse effects on our children, making these funds more important than ever before to keep them on a path for success. KU Med Center's work truly improves lives--children who participate in Head Start are healthier, have better social skills, and are more likely to graduate high school and achieve further education. I cannot wait to watch them help even more children with this new funding."

"This federal support allows us to serve more than 400 children annually, providing essential home visiting services and early childhood education services in our Educare Center to families and children ages 0-5 at no cost to the family," said Lisa London, director of Project Eagle. "Being a part of the Head Start community and the Educare Early Network provides opportunities for the children and families in Wyandotte County they may not have had access to otherwise."

In order to curb child poverty and support early childhood development, Davids also voted for the American Rescue Plan which expanded and improved the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to deliver a new tax cut to middle- and working-class families with children. Not only will the CTC directly impact 77% of the children in the Third District, research finds that increasing family incomes has concrete positive outcomes for children, including higher test scores, higher graduation rates, improved health outcomes, lower rates of incarceration and higher future earnings.

Background:

The University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute's Project Eagle responds to the needs of Wyandotte County's most vulnerable children and their families through four main programs: Connections Comprehensive Early Childhood Screening and Referral Program, ABC Home Visiting, Early Head Start Home Visiting, and Educare Kansas City. All four programs focus on the health and well-being of pregnant women and young children and aim to prepare children, engage families, and promote excellence in the broader field of early childhood education.

Project Eagle has offered services in Wyandotte County, Kansas, for more than 30 years. The University of Kansas Medical Center began the program for the purpose of providing early education and comprehensive family support services to low-income and at-risk children between the ages of birth to 3 and pregnant women and their families.

The Children's Mercy Hospital's 2016 Community Needs Assessment estimates that 36.7% of children in Wyandotte County live in poverty and nearly half of experience one or more adverse childhood experiences. These risk factors, coupled with persistent challenges and barriers to adequate and quality services and interventions, can lead to lower levels of school readiness, poor health outcomes, lower levels of parental engagement, and dismal long-term outcomes.

Federal funding for this grant was authorized by H.R. 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which Davids voted to support in 2020.

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