Head Start is getting a leg up.
Howard?s Community Action Council plans to upgrade its bus fleet with a new bus to transport children to Head Start centers through a Horizon Foundation grant.
“This was a tremendous assistance to us because we had seven old buses which we were using,” said Bita Dayhoff, vice president of the Community Action Council, which provides services for low-income residents.
The buses were more than 11 years old and have more than 200,000 miles, she said.
A $15,000 grant is easing the cost of a $75,000 bus, which is expected to arrive in April.
They also bought two buses last year.
Public transportation isn?t always accessible to low-income families because many areas of Howard are spread out, said Foundation President Rich Krieg.
“The lion?s share of services are in Columbia, yet we have people living as far south as North Laurel and Savage and as far north as Elkridge,” Krieg said.
Another $8,000 was awarded to the Community Action Council for a Head Start nutrition and health awareness project.
Twenty-nine percent of low-income children between the ages of 2 and 5 are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It was an extremely important preventative program for us to implement,” Dayhoff said.
The program includes rigorous activity in the children?s curriculum and instruction on boosting activity at home and school. Parents also receive weekly menus and health tips.
The grants were part of $250,000 in Community Health Issues Program grants from the foundation, a philanthropy in Columbia.
Howard?s Head Start is part of a national program for children who are economically disadvantaged.
