Westchester Head Start Program to Receive $14.7 Million from Feds

The Westchester Community Opportunity Center (WestCOP) in Elmsford will receive a federal grant of $14,680,408to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services to more than 1,400 children and their families in the county, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) announced.

“Head Start and Early Head Start give a child the best opportunity to prepare for school and build a foundation for a healthy and successful life,” said Lowey, the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee, in a statement. “I’m pleased this federal funding will allow WestCOP to continue delivering quality Head Start and Early Head Start services. As Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, I will continue fighting to increase this funding that invests in the mental, social, and emotional development of our young children.”

The funding will enable WestCOP to provide Head Start services to 1,313 children and their families as well as Early Head Start services to 112 children and their families.

“We thank Nita Lowey every day because she has kept us going all these years,” said Ellen Farrar, the director of WestCOP’s early childhood programs, in a statement. “We call her the Champion of Children.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Head Start (OHS) administers the Head Start and Early Head Start programs that support the mental, social, and emotional development of children from birth to age 5. Early Head Start provides children ages birth to three and low-income pregnant women with family-centered services that facilitate child development, support parental roles, and promote self-sufficiency.

2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of Head Start, whose programs served almost one million children and their families nationwide last year, including more than 3,000 in Westchester and Rockland counties. WestCOP is the largest provider of Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Westchester County, while Family Services of Westchester runs the same programs in White Plains.