SANTA ANA

The Santa Ana Unified School District recently received a $665,702 federal grant to open a new Head Start facility at Walker Elementary School.

Head Start is a program designed to better prepare children of low-income families for their futures by providing free preschool and child care to working parents. In addition to preschool and child care, the program provides medical and dental care and two meals a day for disadvantaged children, ages 3 and 4.

The Walker facility will be the seventh for the district, which also was the only agency in Orange County to receive program improvement funding this year.

“There are more than 4,000 preschool-age children eligible for Head Start in Santa Ana,” said Electra Adams, Head Start child development coordinator for the district. “These funds will allow more students to be housed at one site and enable the district to continue to provide uninterrupted, vital service to Santa Ana families.”