Congressman Rubén Hinojosa Announces Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Grant to UTRGV

Press Release

Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) announced that the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) will receive a five year grant in the amount of close to $7 million from the Department of Health and Human Service Administration (HHS) for Children and Families as part of the Early Head Start -- Child Care Partnerships program (EHS-CCP).

"I am pleased that HHS has awarded UTRGV with an EHS-CCP grant of nearly $7 million," said Congressman Hinojosa. "This funding will help expand EHS services and provide underserved infants and toddlers in the Rio Grande Valley with high quality care, family support services, and continuous, intensive, and comprehensive learning programs."

Under the direction of Dr. Hilda Medrano, Director of UTRGV EHS Grant Office, UTRGV has been working for the past 18 months with Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District's EHS program. And, starting today, September 1st, 300 infants, up to age three, will benefit from intensive services in two simultaneous languages in order to better prepare our children as they transition to other programs.

UTRGV will also partner with two additional child care centers in Pharr and Alamo and work with 72 infants and toddlers at each site respectively.

Congressman Hinojosa stated, "These federal investments in early learning will help to improve school-readiness outcomes as these children enter pre-school and beyond."

As part of President Obama's Early Learning Initiative and according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), EHS-CCP combines the strengths of child care and EHS programs through layering of funding to provide comprehensive services and high-quality early learning opportunities for infants, toddlers and parents in low-income working families. Child care centers and family child care providers respond to the needs of families by offering flexible and convenient full-day and full-year services. Importantly, child care providers have experience providing care that is strongly grounded in the cultural, linguistic and social needs of the families and their local communities.

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