In the News

The latest and final payment of a nearly $4 million federal grant program has been made to the Scranton-Lackawanna Head Start.

In total, $3,854,123 have been awarded over a 5 year period. Local congressman Matt Cartwright announced the payment and offered his support for securing future funding for the organization as they reapply for the grant money.

“What’s great about the Head Start program is that we not only treat the child, we also treat the families,” said Scranton-Lackawanna Human Development Agency (SLHDA) Executive Director Jim Wansacz. “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.”

Former Head Start parent and now board member Fawn Contreras said, “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.”

“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.”