HeadStart, a program for pre-kindergarten students, served more than 230 children in Broadwater, Lewis & Clark and Jefferson counties last year. But that is far from the whole story about services overseen by the Rocky Mountain Development Council, executive director Lori Ladas told the Jefferson County Commission February 7.
The administrative arm for community services block grants in the tri-county area, RMDC oversees energy assistance and weatherization programs, nutrition programs, low-income housing project, help for seniors signing up for Medicare and much more, she said.
Ladas was at the commission meeting to report on the RMDC work plan for 2016/17. Her visit was prompted by a plan to end funding to the Whitehall HeadStart program, a plan that caught the commissioners by surprise. When the commissioners’ complained, the plan was reversed. Ladas and other RMDC representatives told the commission the Whitehall program had been experiencing problems attracting students from low-income households.
