Press Releases

Today, U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (PA-08) was joined by Scranton-Lackawanna Human Development Agency (SLHDA) Executive Director Jim Wansacz, and former Head Start parent and current Head Start Board Member Fawn Contreras of Archbald, as he announced the latest disbursement of a federal grant totaling $3,854,123 for Scranton-Lackawanna Head Start. As this five-year federal grant closes, Cartwright offered his support to SLHDA as they reapply for a competitive federal grant to support their education programming for low-income students in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Wansacz discussed the resources that the Head Start program has to offer, how they have adapted to continue their operations during the pandemic and why they are reapplying for continued federal funding. Contreras discussed how Head Start helped prepare her young children for school and opened up new opportunities for her.

“For over 50 years, Scranton-Lackawanna Head Start has helped Northeastern Pennsylvania students get off on the right foot in school. I’m happy to announce their latest disbursement of a 5-year grant totaling nearly $4 million, and my team and I fully support continued federal funding for them,” Cartwright said. “Federal funding for Head Start and other education initiatives helps give everyone a shot at a better life, and no child should be denied that opportunity.”

“What’s great about the Head Start program is that we not only treat the child, we also treat the families,” Wansacz said. “We’re able to use our community action agency to provide wraparound services to many families, and this helps people get back to self-sufficiency. On behalf of the 1,500 families that we currently serve in our Head Start and early learning programs, we thank you, because without your support, we wouldn’t be able to offer these services to our families – and these services are much needed.”

Wansacz also pointed out that 90 percent of the families Head Start and Early Head Start serves have an annual income of below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, which amounts to $26,200 per year.

“I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for Head Start, and my kids were helped immensely. Both of them were enrolled in early intervention for speech delays which would’ve gone undetected until kindergarten because my family would not have been able to put them in any other preschool,” Contreras said. “Head Start has stuck with them over the years … She still remembers her Head Start classroom, lessons that were learned there, and talks fondly of her memories there. Thank you so much, Head Start, for what you have done for me and my family.”

The recording of the meeting is available HERE.