{"id":359219,"date":"2026-09-28T21:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T21:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359219\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T21:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T21:48:07","slug":"news-12-bronx-bronx-charter-school-expands-head-start-access-amid-federal-program-overhaul-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359219\/","title":{"rendered":"News 12 | Bronx | Bronx Charter School Expands Head Start Access Amid Federal Program Overhaul Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">More children in the Bronx will now have the chance to get into the classroom earlier thanks to a federal grant for the Head Start early childhood education program. Meanwhile, the program faces questions after the Trump administration announced plans in August for an overhaul.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Young Raya, 4, shares what she likes about being newly enrolled in an early childhood education program.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">\u201cMy favorite part is playing with my friends,\u201d Raya says<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">She and her friends are part of the 230 seats in DREAM charter school\u2019s new program for toddlers, which comes after the federal government gave a $28 million Head Start grant to the tuition-free public charter school.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">\u201cAll levels of government really have to participate in what we feel are needs for this community,&#8221; says city council member Elsie Encarnacion, who represents parts of the Bronx. &#8220;This is a huge need for this community. It really helps families grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">This comes as the Head Start program faces some uncertainty.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">RELATED: <a data-rich-text-hyperlink=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/bronx.news12.com\/2026\/08\/06\/head-start-program-faces-uncertainty-as-trump-administration-prepares-announcement\/7rM3rMytP5L0gFOJJ7BseJ\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Head Start Program Faces Uncertainty As Trump Administration Prepares Announcement<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">In August, the Trump administration announced it would overhaul the long-standing program, which serves babies and toddlers who come from low-income households, foster care or homeless families.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">The federal government is planning to eliminate most of the program\u2019s regulations, like small staff-to-student ratios and services including medical and dental screenings, while Head Start advocates say these regulations make the program distinct.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">The Bronx borough president says she will work to defend Head Start.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">\u201cWe will fight, we will advocate, we will legislate, we will litigate,&#8221; Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson told News 12. &#8220;We will do everything we can to fight and protect our social safety net programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Each year the school plans to serve 170 3- to 4-year-olds in classrooms at its Mott Haven and Kingsbridge campuses. Sixty children up to 2 years old will receive home-based learning visits. A third campus in East Harlem is set to open in January.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">\u201cThe earlier you start with children, the younger that they are in school, the more traction you can make earlier,&#8221; says Eve Colavito, the Co-CEO of DREAM. &#8220;And the more their achievement can be accelerated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More children in the Bronx will now have the chance to get into the classroom earlier thanks to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-359219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}