{"id":220596,"date":"2026-04-06T14:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220596\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:47:12","slug":"davids-announces-new-grant-to-strengthen-head-start-programs-in-anderson-miami-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220596\/","title":{"rendered":"Davids Announces New Grant to Strengthen Head Start Programs in Anderson, Miami Counties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Representative Sharice Davids announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded the East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corporation\u2019s (ECKAN)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/eckan.org\/services\/head-start\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Head Start program<\/a> with a new federal grant. The <a href=\"https:\/\/davids.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/davids.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/dept-health-and-human-servies-head-start-grant-april-2026.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$3.7 million<\/a>\u00a0will be used to continue providing early education opportunities and family support services to children and families in Andreson and Miami Counties.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChildren who participate in Head Start programs receive countless benefits \u2014 they\u2019re healthier, have better social skills, and are more likely to graduate high school and achieve further education,\u201d said Davids. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m doing what I can to make education at every stage more affordable and accessible because when we invest in our kids, we\u2019re strengthening our entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re excited that our refunding application has been approved by the Office of Head Start for the 2026\u20132027 year,\u201d said Crystal Anderson, CEO, ECKAN. \u201cAt ECKAN, we\u2019re proud to continue supporting children and families and helping them thrive, and we\u2019re grateful for the support of Sharice Davids in advancing this important work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Davids has long fought to protect education and child care in Kansas and has been a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/davids.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/davids-statement-trumps-plan-dismantle-department-education\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fierce critic<\/a> of the administration\u2019s efforts to defund and reorganize the Department of Education. She has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/davids.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/davids-visits-el-centros-head-start-program-highlights-pushback-threats-early\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">visited<\/a> multiple\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/davids.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/davids-visits-olathe-head-start-highlights-federal-investments-early-education\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Head Start programs<\/a> in Kansas and led multiple pieces of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/davids.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/davids-introduces-bipartisan-package-help-working-families-access-quality\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bipartisan<\/a> legislation to allow Kansas families to save on high child care expenses and live more affordably.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Students in early childhood education programs are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startearly.org\/why-early-childhood\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">25 percent<\/a> more likely to graduate high school and are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startearly.org\/why-early-childhood\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">four times<\/a> more likely to complete a bachelor\u2019s degree in comparison to non-Head Start students. Children in Head Start are also healthier and have better\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/post.edu\/blog\/aided-early-childhood-education-toddlers-begin-mastering-social-skills\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">social and emotional skills<\/a>. In adulthood, statistics show that former Head Start students experience greater economic stability and earn\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startearly.org\/why-early-childhood\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">higher wages<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today, Representative Sharice Davids announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded the East&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-220596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}