April 05, 2019

Duckworth, Durbin Announce Over $6.5 Million for Rockford Head Start Programs

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced $6,541,926 in federal funding to help children from low-income families to access Head Start and Early Head Start programs through the City of Rockford. This funding comes through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) that allocates funding, technical assistance, strategic partnerships and more in order to help promote the social and economic well-being of children and families.

“I’m proud to support programs like Head Start that give children in Rockford a fairer shot at reaching their full potential,” Duckworth said. “When we invest in childhood education and parental support services, we help provide children with the tools they need to succeed both in and outside of the classroom.”

“This federal funding helps ensure that children in Rockford have the strong foundation they need to flourish throughout preschool, elementary school, and beyond,” Durbin said. “Head Start programs are sources of countless success stories in our state and remain crucial for the healthy development of young children.”

“At the City of Rockford, we are very fortunate to have such staunch advocates for our community, especially those in our federal delegation,” Rockford Mayor Thomas P. McNamara said. “This grant will allow us to continue to ensure that those children and families with the greatest need get assistance. It’s important to me that all children in our community have the same opportunities to succeed, and this grant makes that possible.”

The City of Rockford Head Start and Early Head Start programs currently serve more than 600 children from birth to age 5. The programs focus on education, nutrition, socio-emotional development and physical and mental health.

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