"For 60 years, Head Start has provided child care for the most vulnerable children in the United States with little controversy. It was established by a Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1965, and supported by a slew of Republicans since, including Richard Nixon, who called it "valuable"; Ronald Reagan, who established Head Start Awareness Month in the 1980s; and George H. W. Bush, who increased its funding."
""For me and for a lot of other directors, trust has been deeply broken," said Jen Bailey, executive director of Reach Dane, which operates 17 child care centers in Wisconsin and offers Head Start services. "The mission is we serve the neediest of the needy and poorest of the poor. For us, changing that would violate the mission of Head Start.""
"The program, which now serves about 700,000 children, was created to support low-income families. It provides free child care to children ages 3 to 5 (Early Head Start serves those under 3) and offers a wide array of services for the entire family, including prenatal support, health screenings and connecting parents to job training, housing and food assistance. Related Story Access to child care is already inadequate across the US. Trump's funding cuts to Head Start will make it far worse."
Head Start has provided six decades of bipartisan-supported child care for low-income families, established in 1965 and operating in all 50 states. The program serves about 700,000 children, offering free care for ages three to five, Early Head Start for those under three, and family services including prenatal support, health screenings, and connections to job training, housing and food assistance. The Trump administration's actions and proposed funding cuts have created unprecedented upheaval, risking closures of centers, eroding trust among program directors, and potentially altering Head Start's mission to serve the neediest families.
Read at Truthout
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