LKLP Head Start adds two new early childhood classrooms in Perry County

Two new Early Head Start classrooms will open at the Perry County Head Start site, giving local families more options for infants and toddlers who need dependable care close to home. A third classroom will open at the Jenkins Head Start site, making Perry County the biggest local beneficiary in the latest LKLP Head Start expansion.

The new rooms matter because Early Head Start serves pregnant women, infants and toddlers from six weeks to three years of age. For parents trying to keep jobs, manage shift work and line up child care in a county where a shortage of openings can block employment as easily as a lack of transportation, every added classroom can ease pressure on families. Even without a public seat count, the two Perry County rooms mean more children can be served locally instead of families having to piece together care far from home.

LKLP Head Start’s own annual report shows the scale behind the expansion. The program said it employs 166 people when fully staffed and received $2,661,569 in federal Early Head Start funding during the 2024-2025 reporting year. The report also says LKLP works with schools, local officials, social services, businesses, mental health agencies, health departments, health providers and families, a network that gives the classrooms a role well beyond basic child care.

That broader role has already grown through a partnership LKLP and Appalachian Regional Healthcare announced Oct. 28, 2025. Under that collaboration, health education, screenings and referrals are being brought directly to Head Start sites, with topics including family nutrition, prenatal care, smoking and vaping cessation, healthy cooking and car seat safety. The classrooms opening June 29 fit that model by putting early learning and family support in the same place.

LKLP’s Early Head Start coverage extends across Perry, Knott, Leslie and Letcher counties, so the new classrooms are part of a regional service map that reaches beyond one community. For Perry County families, though, the impact is immediate: more local capacity for the county’s youngest children, and a little more room for working parents who have spent too long searching for child care they can actually use.