NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Education is a foundation for the rest of one's life — and the earlier the better.

That's goal for the Head Start program, and in Niagara Falls, the city school district has taken the lead in helping kids learn from as early as six months to 5 years old.

Nearly $2 million in federal funding is expected to allow the program to expand to even more children.

Dilllan McKean, who just turned 4, has been going to Head Start in Niagara Falls since last fall — and he's made great strides.

Dillan was born 15 weeks premature, and his mom Danielle says he has been through more than his share of medical and developmental problems.

"Doctors said that he wouldn't be able to walk, talk and possibly had cerebral palsy, and through the grace of God he doesn't have those issues," she said.

When Dillan began Head Start he didn't know his ABC’s, how to count or his shapes — and he struggled to socialize. That all changed during the school year.

"I can't even imagine how much more he's going to learn,” Danielle McKean said. “This is the beginning of his future. It's just unbelievable.”

The Niagara Falls City School District officially took over the program last winter, with the approach of taking kids from the cradle to their careers.

They started with 90 children enrolled, and with $2.2 million in federal funding they look to double that number by the fall.

They're already working on opening a second site, with more resources and training for the staff.

"It's all laid with that foundation and that's why early childhood, and I'm talking early, early childhood when we're talking about 1- and 2-year-olds, is imperative now," said Niagara Falls City School District Superintendent Mark Laurrie.

Laurrie added that kids enrolled in programs like this have better school success, attendance rates and parent involvement once they hit elementary school.

Dillan's teacher, Amber Sawyer, has already seen a big difference.

"He came in very quiet. He would cry almost all day it felt like. But now he's running around, saying everything under the sun,” said Saywer. “Today he told me I look magnificent. I didn't even know he knew that word!"

"It's just the time that that takes to teach him the life skills that he'll need to know forever," Danielle McKean said of the program at Head Start.