Head Start to begin accepting 2025-26 applications on Feb. 1

Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start preschool program, which offers comprehensive early childhood education at no cost to income-qualifying families, will begin accepting applications Feb. 1 for the 2025-2026 school year.  

A total of 180 children – who are or will be 3 or 4 years old by July 31, 2025 – are eligible for the program, which has sites in Haʻikū, Kahului, University of Hawaiʻi-Maui College, Kīhei, Lahaina, Makawao, Wailuku and Kaunakakai on Moloka‘i. Each of the sites are certified for 20 children. 

Families and children may qualify for Head Start if they are unhoused or in temporary shelter, are enrolled in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or meet 100% federal income poverty guidelines for Hawai‘i. Foster children also are eligible.

Parents or legal guardians are required to provide the child’s birth certificate and income verification (preferably 2024 income tax returns or 2024 W-2 forms) and when applicable, TANF, SSI or SNAP benefit history printouts.

Applications may be completed online at meoinc.org (scroll down to “Quick Links”).  For more information, contact the MEO Head Start office at 808-249-2988 during office hours, weekdays, 7:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on federal and state holidays.