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Hillsborough getting $11.7 million for Head Start programs

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By JOSÉ PATIÑO GIRONA | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2009

TAMPA - Hillsborough County's Head Start and Early Head Start is getting a jolt of federal stimulus money with a whopping $11.7 million grant over two years.

The money will be used to attract an additional 700 children, ages 2 months to 4 years old, into the programs, said Louis Finney Jr., director of Hillsborough County's Head Start and Early Head Start.

There are currently 3,070 children in the programs, but the waiting list is estimated at more than 2,000, Finney said.

In addition, the federal money will help create and maintain 90 jobs, including preschool teachers and social service coordinators.

The county plans to work with Metropolitan Ministries, Lutheran Services, Easter Seals and the YMCA. These agencies will work with children who are homeless, severely disabled and whose first language isn't English, Finney said.

The county will expand its child-care provider program from five child-care providers to 51, Finney said. Under the child-care provider program, a parent can take a child to a licensed teacher's home who will take care of and work with only four children.

The program has been around for 10 years and attracts working parents who prefer a more family-oriented and one-on-one setting, Finney said. The children and the families receive assistance from a nurse, social worker, mental health expert and dentist.

Head Start and Early Head Start, which is free to parents, assists the working poor, Finney said.

"The neediest of the needy is what we focus on," he said.

To qualify, a parent must work at least 20 hours a week or attend school or college and meet U.S. poverty guidelines.

The county will start using the stimulus money and expanding the programs in January.

For information or to apply, contact Lavonne Malphous, Head Start and Early Head Start enrollment manager, at (813) 272-5140.

Reporter José Patiño Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659.

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