Tippecanoe County-based Bauer Head Start expands to three new counties

Bauer was awarded a five-year, $5.6 million federal contract to offer Head Start to families in those counties, expanding on its successful Tippecanoe County-based preschool, according to CEO Pam Biggs-Reed.

Bauer won the contract for the region — which had been served by Area IV Agency for 25 years — through a competitive application process that required the agency to show the evidence-based practices the preschool would use to educate children, Biggs-Reed said.

The Area IV program did not have any problems, according to Elva James, executive director of the organization. Bauer’s application, however, received a higher score in the federal review process.

Bauer Head Start began as a summer program in 1965, evolving into a full-day preschool that serves 324 children in Tippecanoe County, Biggs-Reed said. The rural expansion will add about 125 children to its rolls, increasing the size of the program by nearly 40 percent.