An event held by Long Island Head Start today to announce its plan to build a new facility on property it owns in Riverside, ended with a $2.25 million surprise for the organization.
When Head Start’s presentation was concluded, New York State Assembly Member Tommy John Schiavoni, who was accompanied at the event by his invited guest, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, took the podium.
“On behalf of Speaker Heastie and the New York State Assembly, we will be committing $2.25 million to this project,” Schiavoni said to whoops of joy, applause, cheers and tears.
Long Island Head Start CEO Debrah Everett-Garcia was overcome with emotion, as were members of her staff and board of directors in attendance. Some were visibly shaken.
“Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts— and and from our children and community and from Suffolk County. Thank you” Everett-Garcia said, wiping away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.
After being coaxed to the podium to say a few words, the speaker said he worked in daycare as a college student at Stony Brook. When he returned home during school breaks, he worked for the Williamsbridge NAACP Early Childhood Center, Heastie told the audience gathered for the presentation event. “Young people and children— I have such a soft spot. So anything that is beneficial to them is important to me,” Heastie said.
The cause could not be more important to children and families in need in the Riverside area. Long Island Headstart was forced to move out of a building owned by Southampton Town in June 2024, after town officials discovered conditions in the building that rendered it unfit for occupancy.
The organization was left scrambling for alternative quarters in the area that it could use, at least temporarily, to serve the 88 families who relied on the Southampton Headstart program operating out of the town-owned building on Flanders Road. That facility had been in use from 1992 until last June, when it was ordered shut down by the town.
MORE COVERAGE: Southampton Head Start suddenly homeless with start of new school year just two weeks away
The state funding announced today will cover a little more than half the projected cost of the new building planned for the site at 77 Goodridge Avenue in Riverside, adjacent to Phillips Avenue Elementary School. The Riverhead Central School District sold the land to Head Start, which placed modular units there for use as a satellite classroom and offices in 1994. The modular structure is currently in a state of severe disrepair and will be demolished, Everett-Garcia said.
Long Island Head Start plans to demolish the existing structure and replace it with “a state-of-the-art modular facility” to provide five classrooms, four offices and a full commercial kitchen that will be used to cook meals for not only the children in the Riverside program but also children in the programs in Riverhead and Bridgehampton. The project, including demolition, has a price tag estimated at $4 million.
Assembly Member Jodi Giglio, who attended today’s presentation, said she hopes to drive down the cost of the new building by securing construction union trainees to do some of the work.
Head Start hopes to have the new Riverside facility built and operational by September 2026. It will continue to operate out of temporary quarters, serving 28 of the 88 children displaced by the building shut-down last June.
L.I. Head Start Director of Quality Assurance Diane Eppolito spoke to the dire need in the Riverside area in particular and the services provided by the organization’s 18 centers in Suffolk County in general.
“Suffolk County has an average poverty rate of about 7% across the board. Riverhead is about 10%. The Riverside area, which includes about 3000 people, is 26,” Eppolito said. “That is over three times the Suffolk county average, and I think over double the state and national average of families living in poverty.”
Families living in poverty share common needs, she said: stable housing, food insecurity and hunger, difficulty finding affordable childcare and early childhood education.
“At Head Start, that’s what we do,” Eppolito said.
“Head Start is more than a preschool. We’re a comprehensive program. We’re offering top-tier early childhood education at low cost to families. Our classrooms are staffed by highly qualified teachers, many with advanced degrees, and we use research-based curriculum,” Eppolito said.
“We screen children for development on the social emotional milestones, and we provide services that address health, nutrition, disabilities and mental well being access to health care. That’s another issue for families living in poverty. Our philosophy is simple at Head Start: Children can’t learn if they’re not healthy. So we ensure every child has a medical home, a dental home, and they’re up to date on oral health screenings and have health insurance,” she said.
The organization works with parents to encourage good nutrition and healthy eating, Eppolito said. “In fact, many Riverside families have participated in Cornell Cooperative Extension’s six-week nutrition course,” she said.
“Thanks to our community partnerships, job readiness and workforce support, our family advocates play a vital role in helping parents meet personal goals, including securing employment. We recently received a grant from Flagstaff Bank to enhance our parent training curriculum with an employment readiness component… However, having a center centrally located in your community enables parents to access those services,” she said. “So it’s very important that we rebuild here to provide services to this community.”
L.I. Head Start must still raise the balance of the funds required to complete the project.
Power Home Remodeling’s foundation, Power for Good, has awarded Head Start a $200,000 grant for the Riverside Head Start building, Eppolito said.
She said L.I. Head Start has applied for $2.3 million in HUD funding through a congressional spending request by Sen. Chuck Schumer. The organization will be applying for state funds from a $110 million early childhood facilities capital funding line included in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s FY26 budget. It will also apply for a grant from the Town of Southampton’s community development block grant.
Head Start officials thanked the Town of Southampton for its generosity in renting the Flanders Road building to the group for just $1 per month from 1992 to 2024.
“Thank you for believing in our mission and standing by us for more than three decades. You provided us with a building where we were able to serve children and families for over 30 years. That act of generosity was more than a financial gift. It was a statement of trust and partnership, and will never be forgotten,” said L.I. Head Start’s Director of Facilities Yvonne Green.
The Riverside Head Start Center Supervisor Christina Foster introduced a group of young children who have graduated from Head Start to sing “I Can Count on You,” a song by David Kisor from “Anything’s Possible,” Songs for a Montessori Environment. The children also presented Speaker Heastie and Assembly Member Schiavoni with handmade poster board cards, featuring the children’s photos, drawings and signatures.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
