Government shutdown sparks wave of shutdowns head start centerworking parents are overwhelmed with childcare responsibilities, keeping some of the nation’s poorest children out of preschool.
Dozens of centers have missed out on federal aid payments that were scheduled to arrive on Nov. 1. Some centers are closing indefinitely, while others are surviving with emergency funding from local governments and school districts. The closure means that Head Start students — those from low-income families, homeless or in foster care — will no longer have access to preschool, where they are fed two meals a day and receive therapy essential to their development.
“The kids love school, and it breaks my heart that they can’t go to school,” said Sarah Sloan, who oversees a Head Start center in a small town in Scioto County, Ohio. Staff told families they planned to close on Monday. “This leaves families unable to put food on the table and make sure their children are safe during the day.”
Six Head Start programs did not receive their planned grants in October, and 140 programs are currently not receiving the annual infusion of federal funds. Overall, the program has the capacity to support 65,000 preschool children and their expectant parents.
Among the preschools that will be closed as of Monday are 24 Immigrant and Seasonal Head Start centers across five states. These centers were established to support the children of migrant farm workers and typically operate 10 to 12 hours a day to accommodate the long hours their parents work on the farm.
Children attending centers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and Oklahoma recently went home with flyers warning of the potential closures, along with other notices to parents. Javier Gonzalez, CEO of the East Coast Immigrant Head Start Project, said the centers, which serve more than 1,100 children, will remain closed until the closure ends. Approximately 900 staff members across the center have also been furloughed.
If there are no other child care options, the only option for some parents may be to take their young children to the fields where they work, Gonzalez said.
Suspension of food aid further worsens the plight of Head Start households
Many families eligible for federal preschool programs also Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programbetter known as SNAP or food stamps. The program had also been facing depletion of funding due to the shutdown, but two federal judges on Friday issued an order to the Trump administration. keep the program running with emergency reserve funds.
That means many Head Start families are worried. food aidalong with the childcare they rely on to make a living. A day without childcare means day without work And a day without pay for many parents.
Janie Hunt of Kansas City, Missouri, teaches young children at Emanuel Family and Child Development Center, a Head Start site, and her 6-month-old son is cared for in a separate classroom. The center said it will be able to raise enough money to stay open for a few weeks, but that funding won’t last much beyond November.
She said parents often wear uniforms from fast-food restaurants like Wendy’s and McDonald’s when dropping off and picking up children. Some work as certified nursing assistants in nursing homes. No one has extra money. The most pressing concern right now is food, she said.
“A lot of parents are rummaging through their food pantries,” she says. “In fact, one parent asked me, ‘Do you know about food pantries?'”
More than 90 percent of the center’s families rely on SNAP food assistance, said Deborah Mann, the center’s executive director. A construction company offered to help fill the shopping carts of some families using the center. But overall, the family is struggling, she said.
“Some parents are crying. Some parents don’t know what to do,” Mann said.
Some centers will remain open for the time being
Launched 60 years ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, the Head Start program provides a wide range of services beyond early education, including medical and dental exams, school lunches, and family support for children from low-income families without other child care options.
The initiative is funded almost entirely by the federal government, with little cushion from funding disruptions.
Some schools that missed out on subsidy payments have managed to stay open, with philanthropy, school districts and local governments covering the gap. Others, dependent on rapidly dwindling reserves, have warned they cannot keep their doors open much longer.
“If the government doesn’t reopen, we’re going to see fewer services delivered each week,” said Reka Strong, president of a social services nonprofit that operates Head Start centers in southern Washington. She has already had to close one center and some classrooms and reduce home visiting services. “I feel gloomier day by day.”
In Florida, Head Start centers around Tallahassee and Leon County closed on Oct. 27, but reopened the next day thanks to a grant from the Leon County Children’s Services Council. Local school districts and churches are actively working to provide meals for children.
“It takes a village to raise a child, and our village is united,” said Nina Self, interim CEO of the Capital Area Community Action Agency.
But children in rural Jefferson and Franklin counties, where the agency operates two small Head Start centers, weren’t so lucky. We have been closed since late October.
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