FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
July 21, 2021

PSESD Awarded Office of Head Start Federal Grant 
Funding to serve Head Start and Early Head Start children across King and Pierce counties

 

Renton, Wash. — Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) is pleased to announce that it has recently completed the grant application process for the Early Head Start/Head Start 412 federal grant and will receive $15.5 million per year over the next five years. This grant will fund programs and services for nearly 1,000 children enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start through PSESD. 

According to PSESD’s Early Learning leadership team, “PSESD is honored to continue to partner with so many amazing providers across the region to provide access to high quality, comprehensive early learning and care services, as we know these opportunities change trajectories for children and families and are strongly aligned with our end: success for each child and eliminate the opportunity gap by leading with racial equity.”  

The total funding available through this grant was $20.2 million, to serve children and families in King and Pierce counties. Alongside PSESD, Neighborhood House was awarded $4.7 million per year for five years, to serve infants and toddlers in the Burien and White Center area. PSESD and Neighborhood House are working together to transition services and will collaborate to provide a continuum of services to the community.

PSESD applied for all $20.2 million available with the intent to serve over 1,300 infants, toddlers and pregnant women in King and Pierce counties. Recent expansion opportunities for ECEAP (Washington State-funded preschool) that were also awarded to PSESD will provide several hundred additional enrollment opportunities for preschool-aged children in the two-county region. Kay Lancaster, PSESD Early Learning Department Executive Director shared, “The excellent timing of ECEAP expansion opportunities will help to bring these early learning experiences to more children across our region, thereby helping our youngest learners to be well-prepared with strong school and life readiness skills.”

PSESD is one of nine regional educational agencies serving school districts, tribal compact schools and state approved charter and private schools in Washington State. Educational service districts, created by the legislature, are essential regional delivery systems for early learning and K–postsecondary services in the state. PSESD is committed to becoming an antiracist multicultural organization in order to achieve our agency end: success for each child and eliminate the opportunity gap by leading with racial equity.

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