Vela Announces $6.5M Grant For Community Action Corporation Of South Texas

Press Release

U.S. Representative Filemon Vela (D-Brownsville) announced that the Community Action Corporation of South Texas (CACOST) was awarded a $6,560,603 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. The grant will provide funding to continue support of CACOST's Head Start and Early Head Start services in South Texas.

"I thank the Department of Health and Human Services for awarding the Community Action Corporation of South Texas with a Head Start grant. For nearly 50 years, Community Action Corporation has served the South Texas community by increasing access to healthcare, education, housing and employment," said U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela. "It's important that we continually invest in programs and organizations that work and bring families into the middle class, and these grant funds do just that."

The mission of Community Action Corporation of South Texas is to continuously improve the lives of South Texans by providing high quality health care, education, housing and economic opportunities through partnerships. CACOST's Head Start and Early Head Start programs promote school readiness for children up to the age of five, and provide services to 1,193 Head Start children, 248 Early Head Start Children and 46pregnant women. CACOST supports 95 Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms, nine of which are in full collaboration with the local school district. CACOST is currently working in partnership with Mathis and Kingsville Independent School Districts to provide full-day programming at elementary school campuses.

"We are pleased to be able to continue our role in the lives of children, families and our community. We are committed to providing quality early childhood education to ensure our children are mentally, physically and emotionally prepared to succeed in school and later in life," said CACOST Executive Director, Ann Awalt.

Head Start programs improve school readiness among low-income children by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development in a learning environment that supports children's growth in language, literacy, mathematics, science, social and emotional functioning, creative arts, and physical skills.

Head Start and Early Head Start are administered by the Office of Head Start (OHS), within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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