Dan Gross/The Gazette U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington answers questions after announcing $1.3 million in federal grant money for Early Head Start at the Reginald S. Lourie Center in Rockville. Listening in the foreground are Delmy Saenz and her daughter Jaslyn, 1.

But that has not always been easy, she said, as a single mother of three who is pursuing a pre-medical degree at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Ogiata, 26, has had some help, she acknowledges, from a family service worker in the Early Head Start program.

Three of Ogiata's children have been enrolled in Early Head Start, which provides services to pregnant mothers and children up to 3 years old.

Expectant mothers receive prenatal care through the federally funded program, and children receive screening and referrals for any medical or developmental problems. Family workers also visit weekly to help with parenting strategies and early childhood education.

Nationwide, Early Head Start serves about 70,000 children and low-income families.

The Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children in Rockville is one of two organizations in Montgomery County that delivers the program to 109 children and their families -- about 450 people total. The Lourie Center also serves children and families in parts of Prince George's County.

This year, the Lourie Center received a $1.3 million federal grant to continue the program. In the past, the center has been the University of Maryland's subcontractor on the program.

"This program is successful because of the way they involve parents and provide comprehensive services," said U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington.

Van Hollen, who was formerly on the Lourie Center's board of directors, visited Monday morning to announce the grant money.

The main focus of Early Head Start is teaching parents how to help their children, said Barbara Nathanson, the program's coordinator at the Lourie Center. "We want to help parents feel comfortable about attending to children's needs."

Many parents also become involved in the program as volunteers and even as employees. Ogiata now leads the group of parents that advises the Lourie Center on hiring Early Head Start staff, designs parents activities and training sessions and arranges child care for those activities.

For Ogiata, one of the most valuable things she has learned is time management, she said at Monday's announcement.

But she also received the support and encouragement of her social worker and other parents in the program, she said.

Her social worker told her "you can do whatever you set your mind to," Ogiata recalled. "If I can succeed, my kids will look up to me and say, 'Wow, I can do that.'"