Burns: Three local early childhood ed programs awarded $1 million in state grants
Funding will help open child care slots, address rising costs
Rep. Frank Burns August 1, 2022
EBENSBURG, Aug. 1 – As a staunch supporter of early childhood education and literacy, state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, today announced more than $1 million in state grants have been awarded to support Pre-K and Head Start in Cambria County.
“When I voted for the state budget, I did so not just because it held the line on taxes, but also because it invested some of the state surplus in education,” Burns said. “Today the state is providing funding to local early childhood education providers, which will help expand access, cover rising costs and enable more families to get back into the workforce.”
The funding, made available through the Pennsylvania Department of Education Office of Child Development and Early Learning, opens up 2,960 new PA Pre-K Counts slots and will also allow Head Start grantees to address increased costs to operate.
Locally, the grants awarded include:
Pre-K Counts
The Learning Lamp Inc., $300,000
Cambria County Child Development Corp., $500,000
Head Start Supplemental Assistance
CAP Cambria, $252,558
This year statewide, more than 37,213 children will receive services through Pre-K Counts and Head Start. For more information about Pennsylvania’s education policies and programs, residents can visit the Department of Education’s website.
Burns has supported early childhood ed and literacy programs in Cambria County. Just last week he announced he had secured an additional $20,000 state grant to continue funding the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Cambria County. Facilitated locally by Saint Francis University, in its first year the program placed 12,640 books into the hands of 1,686 children.