First Early Head Start​ Program Announced In Howard County

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Five childcare classrooms will be part of Howard County's first Early Head Start program. County leaders announced a $750,000 investment this week to help launch the program.

With this funding, the five new childcare classrooms will accommodate children ages two and younger. Three classrooms will be located at Howard Community College's Children's Learning Center in Columbia while two will be at the Ellicott City Early Childhood Education Center on High Ridge Road.

Children whose families earn up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for this new Early Head Start program.

"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, childcare options for infants and toddlers across our nation have diminished and become more expensive. While nearly 20,000 children under the age of five live in Howard County, there are only approximately 10,000 childcare spots available to our families. Due to this lack of available care, too many families are left scrambling to find safe and affordable care. Through this impactful funding and innovative partnership, we will provide more of our families with access to the affordable childcare they so desperately need, empowering parents and caretakers to return to the workforce and provide for their families. As a county, we are declaring our commitment to support working families and our children taking their best first steps in the future," said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball at a news conference.

This past fiscal year 2024, enrollment was denied to 70 children because they were too young for the existing Head Start program (younger than three), while another 35 families were denied because their income surpassed Head Start’s income limits. These new programs will help the early education needs of more Howard County families be met.

“The expansion of early childhood education by adding infant, toddler and two-year-old classrooms at our existing locations and the soon-to-be-opened Children’s Learning Center at the beautiful Howard Community College is just the beginning of how CAC, along with our partners, plan to address the need for low-to-no cost exceptional care across the county,” added Tracy Broccolino, president of the Community Action Council of Howard County.

CAC’s Ellicott City Head Start program has been operating six classrooms out of its Ellicott City Early Childhood Education Center location on High Ridge Road since 1979. As the sole provider of the first Head Start program in Howard County and now the first ever Early Head Start program, CAC now will provide families and children with a continuum of early childhood education in one location.

“The Community Action Council is the best kept secret in Howard County. Their Early Childhood Education program has been so important for my family. I know other families benefit from their housing, energy, and weatherization programs and of course, the Howard County Food Bank. It is partnerships like the ones being celebrated today and organizations like Community Action Council that truly make Howard County a place to work, live and play for all families,” said Georgina Garcia, a parent with ties to the Ellicott City Early Childhood Education Center.

HCC’s CLC opened in 2000 and was designed to serve its students who needed childcare as they pursued their education. Unfortunately, HCC closed the CLC’s doors in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education awarded HCC a $1 million Childcare Access Means Parents in School grant to support the re-opening its campus childcare center. In April, HCC President Daria Willis announced plans to reopen its CLC in partnership with the CAC. The CLC’s reopening will serve as an essential resource in reducing childcare costs, creating Early Head Start programming for infants and toddlers, and encouraging degree completion among student parents at HCC.