Head Start is a federally funded program that provides free early childhood education, health and nutrition services to children from low-income families.<\/p>\n
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas \u2014 Millions of Americans continue to feel the effects of the ongoing government shutdown, including tens of thousands of low-income families who rely on Head Start<\/a>, a federally funded early childhood development program.<\/p>\n Head Start provides free early education, health and nutrition services for children from low-income families. But since federal funding stopped on Nov. 1, about 140 programs across the country have been affected, impacting roughly 65,000 children<\/a>.<\/p>\n For now, several Head Start centers in the Houston area remain open, but education experts said the threat of closure looms, if the shutdown does not end soon.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the shutdown continues to go on, clearly Head Start will have a major impact,\u201d University of Houston College of Education Professor Duncan Klussmann said.<\/p>\n Klussmann said Head Start is extremely critical for both the kids enrolled in the program.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our most needy children in our country. It\u2019s the kids who need this experience the most,\u201d Klussmann said. \u201cIt gives them that access again to try to get them a good head start in life, so they\u2019re prepared for Pre-K and prepared for Kindergarten, going into their K-12 learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Klussmann also said it is not just the kids that will be negatively impacted by losing Head Start \u2013 so will their parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHead Start will have early and late programs, so it could be the childcare for that low-income family. If they don\u2019t have resources to have someone watch that child or to get daycare, then they\u2019ll have to not go do their job, and it could affect that whole aspect and then the ripple effect of the financial effect on the family,\u201d Klussmann said.<\/p>\n According to the Head Start website<\/a>, there are about 100 Head Start centers in Harris County which are run by a handful of providers. KHOU 11 reached out to five of the main local providers, and here is how they responded to our inquiries about if they were being impacted by the government shutdown:<\/p>\n
BakerRipley\u00a0<\/a>provided KHOU 11 the following statement: “At this time, BakerRipley\u2019s Head Start and Early Head Start programs have not been impacted by the government shutdown, and operations are continuing as usual. We remain in communication with the Office of Head Start and are committed to keeping our families informed.”<\/p>\n
AVANCE Houston<\/a> said they are not providing interviews or public comments regarding the federal government shutdown. However, they confirmed with KHOU 11 that their Head Start programs are still operating.<\/p>\n
Urban Strategies<\/a> told KHOU 11 over the phone that their Head Start programs are continuing as normal as of right now.<\/p>\n
The communications team for the Harris County Department of Education<\/a> told KHOU 11 that they are waiting to hear back from some key staff members before officially commenting on their current Head Start situation.<\/p>\n
\nBakerRipley <\/p>\n
\nAVANCE Houston <\/p>\n
\nUrban Strategies <\/p>\n
\nHarris County Department of Education <\/p>\n
\nGulf Coast Community Services Association <\/p>\n