LITTLE ROCK — The board of directors of a financially strapped nonprofit based in Russellville that offers preschool programs to 2,300 children in 13 counties decided Thursday to relinquish its Head Start grant funds to another provider.
Under the arrangement, which is to begin Friday, another nonprofit will run the federally funded Head Start and Early Head Start programs at 30 centers operated by Child Development Inc., CDI communications specialist Lori Kamerling said.
CDI will continue to run the programs for private-pay students and those who attend through the state-funded Arkansas Better Chance pre-school program, Kamerling said.
She declined to identify the new agency that will take over the federally funded programs, saying she was not sure if the arrangement was officially completed.
Of the 2,300 children served by CDI, 1,300 attend through the federal Head Start program, while 388 attend through state funding. Fees for the rest are privately paid.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We don’t expect any interruptions in services to our families, we’re not anticipating any,” Kamerling said in a telephone interview with the Arkansas News Bureau. “Our greatest goal right now is to make sure that the kids and the families don’t see any further interruption in service. We don’t want our families to be … inconvenienced.”
Kamerling said CDI and the other nonprofit agency will provide instruction to children in the current locations.
CDI also will pay its 460 employees, who have not been paid for weeks because of a financial shortfall, she said.
“Some payroll has already been met, and depending on our funding stream, some of our staff will be paid and we are working on additional payroll to get everything completed,” she said.
Kamerling said there have been no layoffs since the financial troubles began, but added that the nonprofit’s director, Jo Ann Williams, and fiscal officer, Lisa Barber, no longer work for CDI.
She said the board accepted the resignation of one of the employees Thursday and the other was fired. Kamerling declined to discuss further details. CDI closed its doors Tuesday, the last day of the fiscal year for the federally funded Head Start program. The centers reopened Wednesday.
Last month, the company used its Russellville headquarters as collateral to make its employee payroll.
Bettye Williamson, chairman of CDI’s board of directors, did not immediately response to a message left for her at company headquarters Thursday.
The nonprofit operates 30 centers in Arkansas, Conway, Desha, Franklin, Johnson, Lincoln, Logan, Lonoke, Perry, Pope, Polk, Scott and Yell counties.
Kenneth Wolfe, deputy public affairs director for the Administration for Children and Families at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday.
Wolfe said Wednesday that DHHS was working with CDI to make sure the Head Start centers were being provided.