On February 13, 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at the urging of President Obama, who signed it into law four days later. A direct response to the economic crisis, the Recovery Act has three immediate goals: Create new jobs and save existing ones; spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth; and foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending. The Recovery Act intends to achieve those goals by: Providing $288 billion in tax cuts and benefits for millions of working families and businesses; increasing federal funds for education and health care as well as entitlement programs (such as extending unemployment benefits) by $224 billion; making $275 billion available for federal contracts, grants and loans; and requiring recipients of Recovery funds to report quarterly on how they are using the money. All the data is posted on Recovery.gov so the public can track the Recovery funds.
Thanks to this great act of Congress and the Obama Administration, SETA Head Start was able to partner with The River Oak Center for Children (ROCC) and the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) to expand the Early Head Start Home Base program. With funding provided from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), SETA Head Start, ROCC and SCOE are able to serve 132 additional pregnant women, infants and toddlers and their families whose enrollment with Head Start might have been postponed for some time.
Prior to partnering with SETA Head Start, SCOE had an existing Infant Development Program, which was enhanced with ARRA funding. With a seasoned team of professionals with backgrounds in child development, special education, nursing, speech and language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, hearing, vision and psychology, and disabilities, the staff at SCOE is a welcomed addition to the SETA Head Start family.
ROCC is the Greater Sacramento area’s largest non-profit provider of behavioral health and mental health services. Each year, over 2,000 at-risk youth and their families receive services through this vital entity. With staff backgrounds spanning the social science spectrum, ROCC brings specialized care to SETA Head Start.
As community partner’s, SETA Head Start, ROCC and SCOE are excited to continue to serve the Sacramento Community.
