ERIC ED538046: Expanding Access to Early Head pdf

ERIC ED538046: Expanding Access to Early Head

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Description of the Book:

The federal Early Head Start (EHS) program was created in 1994 to address the comprehensive needs of children under age 3 in low-income families and vulnerable low-income pregnant women. In addition to early learning opportunities, EHS’s comprehensive early childhood development programs provide children and families with access to a range of services such as health screenings, referrals and follow-up support, parenting resources, and social services. Despite the program’s proven ability to lessen the negative effects of poverty, consistently low levels of federal funding and increasing child poverty have kept the program’s capacity low. Even the $1.1 billion increase in federal funding from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)–which increased the total number of children and pregnant women served from 93,287 in 2009 to 133,971 in 2010–failed to significantly change the percentage of those eligible who were served because poverty also increased over the same period.

Using innovative funding, policies, and partnerships, states can expand the critically important EHS program and better meet the needs of more low-income children and pregnant women living in their state. In 2008, ZERO TO THREE and CLASP released “Building on the Promise: State Initiatives to Expand Access to Early Head Start for Young Children and their Families,” which outlined the diverse ways states expanded upon or enhanced EHS services for infants, toddlers, and their families. At that time, the researchers found 20 states with some efforts to expand or enhance EHS services at the state level. This report provides updated information on how states are supplementing EHS four years later. Initiatives that extend the day or year of existing services are appended. (Contains 14 endnotes

• Creator/s: ERIC
• Date: 2012-09
• Year: 2012
• Book Topics/Themes: ERIC Archive, Federal Programs, State Programs, Family Programs, Low Income Groups, Infants, Toddlers, At Risk Persons, Child Development, Pregnancy, Access to Education, Access to Health Care, Home Visits, State Policy, Child Care, State Aid, Federal Aid, Private Financial Support, Colvard, Jamie, Schmit, Stephanie

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