A grand opening event was held on St. John Wednesday for the first of six Head Start learning centers being built in the Virgin Islands. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. led a group of top officials gathered to celebrate.
Officials congratulated the contractor, Human Services — the agency that oversees Head Start programs — and the Office of Disaster Recovery for working through challenges of completing the first learning center.
Building six new learning centers to prepare children from birth to age five for primary school was part of the territory’s recovery plan from the damages caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Federal funding totaling $42 million has been secured for the V.I. to build replacements for six centers that sustained heavy storm damage.
“This project was completed in one year’s time — and that’s in St. John years,” said J. Benton Project Executive Eric Cusin. “To the JBC team, excellent work.”
Human Services Commissioner Averil George commended the agency’s administrators and staff for the roles they played in keeping the Head Start construction projects moving forward. Families and children stand to benefit from Head Start services, she said, but the project also helps the local construction industry create new jobs, support higher wages and offer new opportunities. “One down, five more to go,” the commissioner said.
Disaster Recovery Director Adrienne Williams-Octalien said getting the work completed while meeting the expectations of the federal government took “leadership, commitment, strategy and focus.”
“We got phone calls, we got concerns, we got letters about the speed at which we were spending the funds,” she said. “The test has been passed; governor, we told the feds we would get this done, and we got it done,” the director said.
Williams-Octalien said attending Head Start was part of her childhood experience; so did Bryan, so did Senate President Novelle Francis, Jr. and George. Since the start of his service in the Legislature, Francis said he had worked to mitigate the “school-to-prison pipeline” that appears among young people in the territory.
Head Start, Francis said, has been cited in studies as one way to steer the young away from misfortune. Bryan expressed a hope that children coming into a newly-built facility complete with its own playground will foster a sense of self-worth. “Everybody is relevant, and when these kids come through these doors every day, they have to feel relevant,” the governor said.
Assistant Human Service Commissioner Carla Benjamin said she expects the first group of St. John children to attend class at the Head Start Center in Estate Enighed-Contant “when they come back from their Christmas vacation.”
Benjamin, who is based on St. Croix, said she is also looking forward to hearing from families interested in enrolling their children. She added that on her way to the St. John center, she traveled through St. Thomas and caught a glimpse of other Head Start Centers under construction in the Bolongo and Lindbergh Bay areas.
