$7 million grant awarded to Head Start

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - A program aiming to aid disadvantaged children with support services was awarded more than $7 million in grants by the government.

The Newport News-based Office of Human Affairs received a $7.1 million grant by the federal Office of Head Start to provide preschool educational services to children aged 3 through 5-years-old. The grant extends to families in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake.

With this grant, the OHA will be able to serve more than 900 preschoolers and their families, according to Carl Shirley with the OHA.

"Head Start is an invaluable tool that provides early education to children, prepares them to enter kindergarten with the foundation they need to be ready to learn, and helps place them on a pathway to long term educational and life time success," Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Richmond) said.