Dozens of child care centers are missing federal grant payments, leaving parents of what the program calls “America’s most vulnerable young children” without care for kids up to 4 years old.
The government-funded services include Head Start preschool programs, which serve 3-year-old and 4-year-old children, and Early Head Start programs for infants, toddlers, and pregnant women.
“For thousands of families, Head Start is not optional—it is essential,” said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association.
“With each passing day of the shutdown, families are pushed closer to crisis. In fact ... 65,000 Head Start children in communities across America are at risk of losing the learning, nutrition, health services, and the stability they depend on.
"Congress must act now to end the shutdown and protect these children, families, and communities.”
Hundreds of children from centers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Oklahoma were sent home with flyers warning of the possible closures, which could remain shuttered until the end of the shutdown.
The program is funded almost entirely by federal tax dollars.
“If the government doesn’t open back up, we will be providing less services each week,” said Rekah Strong, who heads a social services nonprofit that runs Head Start centers in southern Washington state.
The director said they have already closed one center, several classrooms, and have cut other services: “It feels more bleak every day.”