Two federal grants for Head Start child care programs in Iowa are expiring on Saturday. Normally, federal workers at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would be able to sign off on a funding renewal, but because of the government shutdown — now in its fifth week — the programs are forced to halt services.
Hundreds of families will see services interrupted as school partnerships try to fill the gap. Iowa Head Start Association Executive Director Lori Ferris said one agency, South Central Iowa Community Action Program, has found some funding to stay open until Nov. 14.
Community Action for Eastern Iowa (CAEI) will close Head Start centers in Scott, Clinton and Muscatine counties and lay off 45 staff members, starting Saturday. As a result, the families of 295 children will need to find alternatives.
“It is incredibly important care and education that Head Start provides, and it's not like you can turn that service off and then send someone to a different care and education provider,” CAEI CEO Daniel Sheridan said. “They don't exist.”
Sheridan emphasized that Head Start provides free child care for families living at or around the poverty line. For a family of four, that’s $32,150 a year.
Head Start is more than just child care though, according to Ferris. The program also provides meals for children, as well as medical support.
“The goal is to break the cycle of poverty, and it really is a multi-generational program,” Ferris said. “So not only do we support the children, but we also empower the parents to better themselves.”
Without Head Start watching over their kids, Sheridan said parents will struggle to balance their jobs and child care. One mother has three kids, two of whom are enrolled in CAEI’s Head Start program. She was recently promoted to work five days a week, but because of the shutdown affecting Head Start, she doesn’t have the resources to work and provide child care.
“She’s going to have to step back from that promotion and may not even be able to continue to work part time,” Sheridan said.
Sheridan also shared the story of another parent, a father with two kids who's struggling with the consequences of federal worker layoffs.
“Because of all the [federal] layoffs, he lost his job. Now he's losing his child care and then also with the potential of losing SNAP,” Sheridan said. “You can see fear in people's eyes. This is deeply, deeply distressing.”
Three-quarters of CAEI’s Head Start families rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to Sheridan.
Ferris said the shutdown is adding to the challenge of providing child care, especially in rural Iowa, where there are child care deserts. She said the state is already unable to serve all families who need help, as there aren’t many open slots for children to take.
These are two of the 18 Head Start programs in Iowa. Other programs are not closing because their five-year grants are not yet up for renewal.
