Hundreds of thousands of low-income children across the country who rely on Head Start for meals, health screenings and early learning will feel the pain of the government shutdown.
The early childhood program mostly relies on federal funding. And Head Start leaders in some states are now telling families that centers will have to close starting Monday if the government doesn’t reopen.
Shannon Perkins, lead teacher at the Louise B. Royal Head Start Center in Tallahassee, Florida, has been working without pay. Perkins said she’s turning to the Bible to strengthen her faith during this tough financial time.
Without a plan, she’s taking it day by day.
“It’s my kids on the line, my life, and then the kids that we serve every day here at a Head Start,” Perkins said. “It’s crazy right now. [I] don’t know which direction to go, but just trying to stay on the right path to eventually get to somewhere.”
Hundreds of staff share Perkins’ experience, said Darrel James, director of Capital Area Community Action Agency, which runs six Head Start centers in Florida.
With no money left in the bank, James said his organization is still trying to work out a deal to pay teachers ahead of next week.
“We really, really appreciate [staff] coming into work,” James said. “We’re not forcing them to come into work, but just because they’re great educators, and that you just heard from Shannon, they care for the kids.”
If Head Start centers can’t open on Monday, that jeopardizes parents’ ability to go to work or school, James said.
“Or that puts the pressure on grandma, or then that puts the pressure on the parents to try to scrape and pay for childcare, something that they obviously cannot afford. That’s why they’re in Head Start, a no-cost program,” James said. “So it puts a lot of pressure, and I hope this doesn’t happen, but who knows, some kids may be left at home alone.”
With the government shutdown, food assistance benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, are also about to run out.
Many Head Start families rely on kids getting up to three meals a day at school, which they won’t get if the doors are forced to close, James said.
Operating for 60 years with bipartisan support, Head Start survived the Trump administration’s attempts earlier this year to get rid of funding altogether.
“In Head Start, you always deal with headwinds. This has been one of the toughest that we’ve dealt with, but we’re real resilient people,” James said. “We always try to be there for the children and the families, but it’s hard to do that without funding. Now we’re trying to do it without any funding, and that’s very difficult, almost impossible.”
James’s message to Washington is clear: “End the shutdown,” he said. “We need money fast to take care of our low-income children and families, and also to take care of our staff around the country.”
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Ashley Locke produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Allison Hagan produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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