by Ben Overby
The Paducah Sun
September 22, 2026
Used with permission.
Paducah Head Start announced that the preschool has received a $300,000 federal health and nutrition grant at a Paducah Public Schools Board of Education meeting Monday.
Kristy Lewis, director of Paducah Head Start Preschool, said the grant is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Make America Healthy Again initiative, and Paducah Head Start received the highest grant amount for this round in Kentucky. She told The Sun that while they have not received notice of the award yet to establish an official timeline of when they can use the funds, the target date would be in January.
“We focused on what our community needs based on data that we have to support children and families in learning more about health and nutrition, supporting families in having the resources to make their homes and families healthy and also providing our staff training on how to provide those lessons in the classroom,” Lewis said.
Lewis said health and wellness is already a major priority to staff, with Headstart already having a full-time nurse practitioner in the building through Arcare that supports staff and families, but that the grant funds will help take that commitment to the next level.
“To provide training to staff on being healthy, being active, and living a lifestyle that is healthy for them, but we also want to carry that to our children and our families, so that they know and also have the resources,” Lewis said. “This will provide us with funds to give active learning at home. It’ll give us tools to provide and materials to support families when they’re in their house.”
Lewis said the most important thing a child needs before they can learn is to be healthy and safe. She said Headstart provides breakfast, lunch and a snack for all their families, and the grant will allow them to continue that, while being able to bring in foods they may not be able to experience otherwise.
“Some of the things that we might be able to do are cooking classes for families and partnerships with the McCracken County Extension Office and with our McCracken County Health Department,” Lewis said. “We just want to bring the community together to provide resources and materials for our families. So, if we’re doing a cooking class and we’re talking about making a healthy smoothie for their child, we’ll provide those ingredients. But then we’ll also provide the blender at home so that families can make a healthy drink for their children. We’ve also had staff members who’ve worked in other districts, and they have a healthy cooking night, and they’ve provided like an at-home skillet so they can make fajitas or whatever the family is interested in to support them in healthy cooking at home. Taking the time to teach what healthy cooking looks like, and then providing those materials at home as well.”
At the meeting, Lewis also discussed Paducah Head Start receiving a five-star rating from the Kentucky Department of Education in the preschool division, based on criteria of family and community engagement, classroom instructional outcomes, leadership and administration, and staff qualifications and professional development. Lewis also praised the school’s staff, many of whom attended the meeting.
“We know day in and day out that we have one of the best, if not the best, early childhood centers in western Kentucky — providing full-day services for the children in our classrooms,” Lewis said. “This just acknowledges that, but also it allows us to let families know that where their child is going is a highly rated preschool program, because that’s what a family needs to know. A family wants to know where their child is going. Is it a healthy and safe learning environment? This is just the data to back up what we tell our families every day.”