Nationally, Head Start programs recently got a $61.9 million shot in the arm for kitchen upgrades, gardens, and nutrition classes meant to set kids “on a path to lifelong health,” as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. put it. But here in Santa Barbara County, where 20 Head Start centers serve low-income families, that money will never arrive.
“When the federal government closed the Region 9 Head Start Office in San Francisco last spring, communication to local programs was severely disrupted,” said Patricia Keelean, CEO of CommUnify, which runs the county’s Head Start sites. “We only received notice of this funding opportunity about a week before the deadline, which did not allow enough time to prepare a competitive application.”
Keelean said the missed opportunity stings. “Had we been given more time, these funds could have supported much-needed improvements at one of our Head Start center kitchens,” she said. Instead, local families are left watching as centers in Michigan, Puerto Rico, and Florida get everything from hydroponic gardens to new farm-to-table partnerships…