The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - Head Start Expansion

This grant award is being made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5). Funding will support an increase in the enrollment of additional children as well as create new teaching and other positions in Head Start programs. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS), solicits applications from existing federally funded Head Start agencies to compete for funds, including training and technical assistance funds, that are available to provide services to unserved children and families residing in the defined Federally approved service areas or, as discussed below, nearby unserved areas. This expansion is to increase the number of pre-school age children served in Head Start. Each grantee currently has a defined, approved service area and may apply to serve additional low-income children in that area. In addition, grantees may propose to serve areas that are currently unserved as long as they can demonstrate they meet the statutory requirement to be a Head Start provider in that community; i.e. an agency that would be understood by the community as a local agency, within a community; an agency that has some presence in that community; or the community is contiguous to its current service area and the community demonstrates its support for the applicant to be a Head Start provider in the community. Applicants proposing to both expand within their current service area and to establish a new program in an unserved area must submit separate applications. Successful applicants will be subject to reporting requirements consistent with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L. 111-5) and with current Head Start regulations. ACF, OHS, is publishing separate announcements to support Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Expansion and American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIAN) Head Start Expansion.