Head Start program at UAMS receives $41M federal grant

A program intended to sharpen school readiness in children from low-income families in Pulaski County received a $41 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, officials announced Tuesday.

The grant allows officials at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to make several changes to the Head Start/ Early Head Start program, according to a news release. Administrators plan to increase the number of children served in Early Head Start and in its home-based offerings, as well as emphasize services for pregnant women, notably teen mothers and the county’s growing Hispanic population.

The program plans to hire two deputy directors to sharpen the initiative’s management, the news release stated.

The Head Start/Early Head Start Program, which has been operated by UAMS’ pediatrics department since 1998, received the grant of $8.2 million per year for the next five years, according to a news release from UAMS.

The program serves more than 700 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 5 years, as well as their families, and it provides “center-based and home-based” services across Pulaski County, according to UAMS. Officials said that, in addition to the offerings of traditional Head Start programs, the county program gives participants access to a variety of health services from UAMS and other providers.

“We are so grateful UAMS can continue serving the community with this comprehensive program, which is so needed,” the director of the UAMS Head Start program, Tyra Larkin, said in the release. “We want to be the best program we can by focusing on closing the achievement gap for at-risk children and delivering high-quality services to families.”