Ga. Head Start programs get $8 million lifeline to stay open during shutdown
Head Start programs in Georgia are scheduled to receive federal funding for the next year on Saturday — but as U.S. lawmakers show few signs of ending the government shutdown, the money most likely isn’t coming.
The shutdown is putting more than 6,500 Georgia students and their families at risk of losing early learning and child care services and more than 800 teachers at risk of being furloughed.
“It’s a very scary time,” said Lauren Koontz, the president and CEO of the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, at a news conference about the issue Tuesday.
That’s why the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta is stepping in. The philanthropy will give bridge loans to the state’s three largest Head Start providers, which will let them maintain operations for 45 days. The loans total about $8 million. They’re going to the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, Sheltering Arms and Easterseals, which together serve about 5,500 of the 6,500 at-risk Head Start students.
The move is unprecedented, and it’s temporary, said CEO and president of the foundation, Frank Fernandez.
“It is a reprieve,” he said. “It’s not something we can continue to do, to really come in and support the federal government. This is the federal government’s role.”
Statewide, there are more than 22,000 students in Head Start in Georgia, but only 6,500 are in programs that may not receive funding this weekend. More than 100 Head Start programs in 41 states are facing the same dilemma, Education Week reported.
Georgia advocates are calling on federal lawmakers and the White House to find a way to end the shutdown.
“The cascading effects of having to close Head Start programs are really dire,” said Mindy Binderman, president of Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. Federal lawmakers and state leaders all have a role in getting through the shutdown, she said: “This is a call to action.”
The impacts of the federal shutdown are expected to grow exponentially this week: food assistance used by 1 in 8 Georgians will dry up; security lines at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are expected to get longer; and tens of thousands of federal workers in Georgia have already gone weeks without pay.
Elizabeth Morris, who is a mother of four and a substitute teacher at an Easterseals program in Madison County, said without the loan for Head Start programs, she and her youngest children would have just had to go home. Her husband, who serves in the U.S. Army, has already been furloughed. (Civilian military personnel not engaged in excepted activities have been placed in a non-work, non-pay status, federal officials have said.)
“I’ve just been so scared,” she said. “My children would have lost their speech therapy. When it comes to eating their meals, we would have had to scrounge.”
Head Start, which started in 1965, offers child care and early learning programs to families who are at or below the poverty line. It also provides meals, therapies for students with disabilities, medical and dental screenings, helps families find housing and food access, and helps provide parents with job training and other resource referrals.
Head Start programs in South Georgia will not receive emergency funding from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and are at risk of closing after this week.
“This is having a real impact on people’s lives,” Fernandez said. “That cannot and should not stand.”
About the Author
Cassidy Alexander covers Georgia education issues for the AJC. She previously covered education for The Daytona Beach News-Journal, and was named Florida's Outstanding New Journalist of the Year.
