Following a tour of a local Head Start facility, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced more than $225 million in supplemental funding awards. The announcement came during a press conference in South Texas following a tour of a local Head Start facility.
Head Start programs provide early childhood education, health, nutrition, and family support services to low-income households. The program is funded by federal tax dollars.
Kennedy toured classrooms at the Community Action Corporation of South Texas Head Start Birth Five Program in Alice alongside Alex Adams, assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The new funding announced during the Tuesday press conference allocates more than $225 million to strengthen nutrition and healthy eating, improve Head Start facilities, and provide funding for critical one-time needs.
More than $89 million was allocated to “improve access to nutrient-dense foods, strengthen food preparation and storage capacity, support farm-to-table and gardening initiatives, provide nutrition education for children and families, and make other investments that promote healthy development” as part of the Make America Healthy Again agenda.
The award increases the Department of Health and Human Services’ 2025 investment by approximately $27 million, aiming to reach more children and families nationwide.
“Good health begins with good nutrition, and the earliest years of a child’s life shape health for decades to come,” said Kennedy. “We are strengthening Head Start nutrition and creating healthier, safer environments that give children a stronger foundation for lifelong health. By putting prevention first, we are advancing President Trump’s commitment to Make America Healthy Again.”
Kennedy announced more than $88 million will be awarded to 28 recipients to support improvements that affect “the health, safety, and quality of services provided to children and families” and more than more than $47 million for critical one-time needs such as for the purchasing of buses, technology support, playground equipment, classroom furnishing, and security systems.
Kennedy stressed the importance of Head Start facilities, saying it is a critical program for “the most vulnerable kids in this country,” so preserving the existing budget and expanding it was a priority for him.
Kennedy also told the press that after assuming office, he began touring Head Start facilities and noticed the food served to children was “subpar,” featuring items like Fruit Loops, donuts, and pastries.
“We’ve made a very, very big effort to make sure that there’s additional money available for Head Start programs to get these kids real foods, nutrient dense foods, whole milk, the things that they need to put them on a good trajectory for health for the rest of their lives,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy said the Mary Garcia Center, where he received a tour, will receive $348,000 for kitchen upgrades to provide nutritious meals for children enrolled in the Head Start program.
The funding announcement follows an August rule change proposal that restores “flexibility to programs to meet local needs, reduces regulatory burden and administrative costs, and aims to increase available slots and services for families.”
Key points of the rule include empowering Head Start parents, emphasizing health, nutrition, and physical exercise, increasing access to Head Start slots by decreasing administrative costs, aligning licensing standards to state early childhood systems, and removing duplicative regulations.
The proposed rule is projected to preserve or expand approximately 236,000 Head Start slots nationwide and save $2.2 billion, which HHS called the “largest known reinvestment in the program since its creation 61 years ago.”
