What’s New

The “What’s New” section contains the latest information relevant to the Head Start community. Each dated entry below provides a brief description and links to the corresponding materials.

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April 2009

• 04/27/09

  One-time Funding Opportunities

  As Head Start grantees are considering how best to use their COLA and Quality Improvement Allocations, the Office of Head Start (OHS) wants to inform you that later this fiscal year OHS intends to make available one-time funding to address grantee health and safety issues and to address grantee training and technical assistance needs. As in past years, applicants will need to submit funding requests to their Regional Office and, as in past years, not all applicants will be funded or funded at their full request. Nonetheless, each grantee may wish to consider the pending availability of these funds in making decisions about the most effective use of its COLA and Quality Improvement allocations.

• 04/15/09

  Policy Clarification

  May Head Start grant funds be used to pay for mental health services for parents of Head Start children? - (OHS – PC – B – 050)

   

• 04/03/09

  New Funds Will Improve Head Start and Early Head Start Programs

  The Office of Head Start wishes to inform Head Start programs of two pieces of information that we believe will be of interest to you. The first is a news release announcing how the $2.1 billion in funds, made available to Head Start under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will be used. To read this news release, please visit the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website.

  In addition, synopses of both the Head Start expansion and the Early Head Start expansion announcements were posted yesterday on grants.gov. If you are interested in reading the synopses, please visit the grants.gov website, select "new opportunities this week," sort by agency, and both synopses (HHS-2009-ACF-OHS-SH-0087 and HHS-2009-ACF-OHS-SH-0089) will be available to you.

• 04/02/09

  Program Instruction

  Head Start Funding Increase - (ACF-PI-HS-09-06)

   

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March 2009

• 03/27/09

  Annual Tribal Consultation Sessions - Registration Information is now available!

  The Office of Head Start is holding its annual Consultation Sessions with leaders of Tribal governments operating Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Consultation Sessions have currently been scheduled in the following regions:

  April 21, 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico
  May 5, 2009 - Tucson, Arizona
  May 13, 2009 - Marksville, Louisiana
  May 26, 2009 - Anchorage, Alaska

  The purpose of these Consultation sessions is to solicit input on ways to better meet the needs of Indian, including Alaska Native, children and their families, taking into consideration funding allocations, distribution formulas, and other issues affecting the delivery of Head Start services in their geographic locations. Specific topics include policy, research, Head Start/Early Head Start conversion, program quality, and monitoring.

   

• 03/26/09

  Program Instruction

  Criminal Record Checks - (ACF-PI-HS-09-05)

• 03/20/09

  Policy Clarification

  Are Head Start Programs required to provide infant formula? - (OHS – PC – B – 049)

   

• 03/12/09

  Information Memorandum

  The 2009 Family Income Guidelines - (ACF–IM–HS–09–02)

  Information Memorandum

  Certifying Eligibility for Enrollment in Head Start Programs - (ACF–IM–HS–09–01)

   

• 03/10/09

  Program Instruction

  Enrollment of Children with Disabilities - (ACF-PI-HS-09-04)

  Program Instruction

  Provision of Diapers - (ACF-PI-HS-09-03)

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February 2009

• 02/18/09

  Policy Clarification

  What are the governing body membership requirements? - (OHS – PC – E – 027)

   

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January 2009

• 01/13/09

  HSES GABI Announcement

  The Grant Application Budget Instrument (GABI) is now available as a web-based system exclusively in the Head Start Enterprise System (HSES). Grantees with a budget start date of June 1, 2009 are asked to submit their GABI through HSES.

  Grantees and their delegates can access GABI by logging in to HSES. Training materials are available by selecting Instructions on the left side of the screen. Previous desktop versions of GABI will no longer be supported.

  For questions or assistance, please contact the HSES Help Desk at 1-866-771-4737 or via e-mail at hseshelp@acf.hhs.gov.

  HSES GABI Frequently Asked Questions [PDF, 56KB]

   

• 01/08/09

  Program Instruction

  Conversion of Part-day Slots to Full-working Day Slots or Sessions - (ACF-PI-HS-09-02)

  Program Instruction

  Conversion of Enrollment Slots from Head Start Children to Early Head Start Children - (ACF-PI-HS-09-01)

   

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