OAKLAND — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the Garrett County Community Action Committee with a $1,696,669 grant for Head Start. Head Start is a federal program that promotes school readiness for children under 5 from low-income households.
“Head Start is a major priority for Community Action and we have been working on it for a number of years,” said Duane Yoder, president of GCCAC.
The Head Start program runs from Feb. 1 to Jan. 30 and if it’s prorated it’s the largest grant that GCCAC has received, according to Yoder.
“Today’s announcement of the HHS Head Start grant for Garrett County Community Action is good news for my constituents in Maryland’s westernmost county,” said 6th District Congressman John Delaney on Monday. “Head Start is one of our most important federal programs because supporting early education clearly benefits both individual children and our society as a whole. Every child in America deserves a world-class education and an opportunity to pursue the American dream.
“I have been impressed by the work done by the Garrett County Community Action Committee, which is a tremendous on-the-ground resource for the people of Garrett County in implementing federal programs and helping people in need. Partnerships that combine federal resources with local expertise can often produce better results, especially with a dedicated staff such as the one at the GCCAC.”
GCCAC has an Early Head Start program which is for children up to age 3 and the Head Start program is for ages 3 to 4. The Early Head Start, which has 80 children enrolled, has the largest waiting list and the Head Start program has 220 children enrolled, according to Yoder.
“The Head Start school readiness scores for children coming out of Head Start, which is for low- to moderate-income students, are the same as the rest of the population. We are the only place in the state that has scores that are the same as the rest of the population,” said Yoder.
Last year, the Head Start program closed for a month due to the federal government sequestration and during that time the school readiness scores dropped, according to Yoder.
“We have worked very hard on this and have 11 different classes around the county and have infant home visiting,” said Yoder.
The majority of the classrooms are at the Dennett Road facility and there are classrooms at Friendsville, Grantsville, Accident, Kitzmiller, Crellin and the Overlook Child Development Center in Oakland.
Founded in 1965, GCCAC is a private nonprofit corporation that provides services to Garrett County residents. It is governed by a 15-member board of directors composed of community leaders. Delaney toured its headquarters in Oakland earlier this year and met with Yoder to discuss the organization’s needs and priorities.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
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Photo by Marcia Warnick, 
