Parents and Children Together, also known as PACT, received an $8.8 million federal grant to bolster Head Start and Early Head Start programs on Hawaii Island and Oahu, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) announced Thursday.
Parents and Children Together, also known as PACT, received an $8.8 million federal grant to bolster Head Start and Early Head Start programs on Hawaii Island and Oahu, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) announced Thursday.
The grant, awarded to PACT by the Administration for Children and Families, will aid pre-kindergarten education efforts, which have long lagged behind in Hawaii but have shown gradual improvement in recent years.
“We are excited and grateful to continue to provide these important services to communities on Oahu and Hawaii Island,” said Ben Naki, PACT’s vice president of early education, in a press release. “We will be able to serve over 800 children and their families with high quality, comprehensive, early-childhood services that are so needed by our community.”
PACT, a not-for-profit organization involved in a variety of educational and social services, provided assistance to more than 18,000 residents of Hawaii annually.
“Research shows the many short and long-term benefits of early education, including increased academic development and achievement, reduced child abuse, (reduced) neglect and crime rates, increased income equality and more,” Gabbard said in a press release. “This grant will enable PACT to expand access and opportunity to those who need it the most.”