BEREA, Ky ---The Community Action Council, a non-profit organization based in Lexington is expanding it's footprint h to several new Kentucky counties thanks to a new federal grant. 

• When the Council first opened its doors in 1965, Head Start was its very first program
• In the early 2000s, the Council became the statewide program operator for Kentucky’s Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Program, which serves children from farmworking families
• With the new grant, the Council now operates Head Start, Early Head Start, and/or Migrant and Seasonal Head Start in 19 counties across Kentucky

The Community Action Council recently was awarded a $40 million dollar ($8.5 million dollars a year for five years) federal grant to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services to more than 800 children and families with low income in the counties of Clark, Estill, Garrard, Jackson, Laurel, Madison, Powell, and Rockcastle beginning on January 1, 2019.

This grant award allows the Council to operate a comprehensive program to meet the needs of children and families, through direct management of high-quality early childhood education services as well as partnership with local community-based early childhood education providers and local education systems.