GENEVA - A nationwide program that offers early education services to children across America has been facing serious threats to its federal funding this year. But this week, a local organization that offers Head Start services in Southeast Nebraska is celebrating progress by breaking ground on a new facility.

"It’s an exciting day, but it also comes with a lot of memories and heartfelt feelings as many of our staff have grown up in this facility, their children have gone to this center. It is one of the first Head Start centers that we opened [in Nebraska] along with the original grant that started BVCA’s Head Start program," said Kyanna Volkman, BVCA's Children Services Director. "It’s one of those big mile markers that we’re excited for, but also a lot of compassion for what brought us here today." 

Since 2001, a building on I Street in Geneva that was once a church has housed the children and staff of Blue Valley Community Action's Head Start program. BVCA performed a "health and safety" analysis on all of its buildings in 2019, CEO Shari Weber said, to determine which of their properties might need some improvements. They determined that this one, which was in use for decades before BVCA moved in, and had started to show signs of structural damage and decay, fit the bill.

They applied for a grant for a new building in 2020 and were not approved, but they kept reworking their application until in September 2019 BVCA was awarded $1.9 million to construct a new facility in Geneva. And that was welcome news for the people here: Volkman joked that she can still remember the meeting they were in when the approval email came across her laptop screen.

"We’re very excited to be able to bring a new building to this community, a great place for children to learn and grow. I say that the children are our future, so we want to give them a great place to learn, and to be together, and also a great place for our community," Weber said.

But this week, with Head Start staffers, children and families on hand, BVCA marked the start of construction of a new home for its early education services, celebrating with a groundbreaking ceremony Monday - a significant milestone for a program that has had to endure serious uncertainty about the future of its federal funding for most of this year.

"This is a huge celebration. The last six to nine months have been more difficult," Volkman said. "There’s been a lot of uncertainty and change, daily, weekly. But this is our huge achievement, our sign that we are strong, that we are here to stay. We have been here for 60 years and we plan to be here for another 60. When you find yourselves in hard times, and you consistently have more and more people showing up to be a helping hand, to support your cause, and to show alumni, current families, our children, how impactful our services are...it has been truly remarkable."

Head Start is preparing to celebrate its 60th birthday this year, and it's been providing early education services to kids in Geneva for nearly that long - Head Start programming was first offered in this Southeast Nebraska city in 1967, and this new facility will just be the latest home base. The new building will house 20 children and 12 staff members, with room for a third classroom and socialization spaces for kids that are enrolled in BVCA's home-based programs.

BVCA expects the new building in Geneva will be open by next spring. They're also opening another new facility that offers Head Start programming in Wymore later this fall.

"We’re still fighting the good fight. We have made tremendous steps, this facility being one of them, our other facility going up this year being another, our funding feeling much more secure – but we still do have the fight," Volkman said. "We still are going to keep working and showing what our services can provide, what our mission is, and how that can be impactful to our communities."