Lutheran Social Services Secures Federal
Stimulus Grant Totaling $1.1. Million Dollars

72 Virgin Islands Children to Benefit from Expansion of Early Head Start Services

From Washington D.C. Wednesday morning, Governor John P. de Jongh Jr. said he has been notified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands (LSS) has been awarded a federal stimulus grant in the amount of $1.19 million dollars for the expansion of Early Head Start services. “Lutheran Social Services applied for the grant and received the full amount they sought,” de Jongh said, noting that the monies will be used for comprehensive, high quality early childhood services for infants and toddlers and their parents on St Croix. 

de Jongh said Lutheran Social Services was judged to be the one of the most qualified among all that applied to be Early Head Start providers. “This was determined through a competitive process in which all applications were reviewed by a panel of individuals who are experts in Head Start or early childhood education.” The federal Head Start Act authorizes a comprehensive early childhood program, primarily for young children from low-income families. Early Head Start has a target population of families of children under three years of age and pregnant women, while Head Start is generally for children from three to five years of age. Both programs serve the whole family providing a host of educational, socialization and health services to children while offering opportunities for the parents to receive assistance to strengthen their families and improve their economic status.

Lutheran Social Services presently operates the territory’s only Early Head Start program. This grant will allow them to more than double the number of infants and toddlers served from 36 to 96 and increase the number of low income pregnant women clients from 12 to 24. Early Head Start works with families in a variety of settings. Once the grant is fully implemented 72 children will be served in centers with nine classrooms of eight children each, while the pregnant women and 24 children are served in their homes. de Jongh noted that the Early Head Start model is a comprehensive, high quality program for low income families with infants and toddlers. “This is an important step in my goal to improve early childhood services in the Virgin Islands and I congratulate Lutheran Social Services on their initiative to expand this excellent program.” 

de Jongh said approval of the grant funding for St. Croix based Lutheran Social Services is yet another indication that federal stimulus dollars are not only being made available to government, but to private sector and non-profit organizations who can demonstrate a need for the monies which are made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Lutheran Social Services has to provide a twenty percent match of the total of the grant award.