WESTFIELD – As the stand-off between Republicans and Democrats continues on Capital Hill, many government funded programs are bracing themselves for the potentially fatal blow that a Washington shutdown could inflict.
Community Action!, an organization whose mission is to promote economic justice and improve the quality of life for low income people and families, took over the Westfield Head Start program last year, and has already faced a trying start to this school year.
“We were notified late Thursday, early Friday of the shutdown,” said Mary Clare Higgins, executive director of Community Action! for the Franklin, Hampshire, and the North Quabbin Regions of western Massachusetts, which oversee Head Start Programs like Westfield’s. “Because our contract is an October 1 contract, we will not be receiving any funding after September 30.”
Community Action! provides Head Start services to more than 500 children in their region, and, thanks to sequester-related budget cuts that have already led to the elimination of services for 57,000 children nationwide, has already had to start their services two weeks late, though the original plan was to run the program later into the summer.
“We opened late and were going to stay open later (in the year),” Higgins said Tuesday. “And now with the shutdown, we were going to be faced with telling parents that they couldn’t bring their children tomorrow.”
The shutdown, factored in with the sequester cuts, has put the program in a precarious position since the start of the semester, but with the support of Beacon Hill, the program will be able to remain in operation.
“Governor Deval Patrick and (Commissioner at Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care) Tom Weber are allowing the program to draw down early from state funds,” Higgins said, before stating “without their good work”, the program would be unable to run.
The Community Action! Head Start program is not out of the woods yet, however, as the Commonwealth’s funds will only be able to tide them over for another two weeks.
Higgins, who spoke from Washington D.C. yesterday, is saddened by the government shutdown.
“It’s pretty tense here,” she said of the situation in the District of Columbia. “It’s been painful to watch.”
Higgins remains optimistic that a compromise can be reached soon.
“These services are critical,” she said of the programs under the Community Action! umbrella. “A high quality early childhood education can make a huge difference in a child’s life.”
“There needs to be a compromise for not just our work, but the work of everyone whose work is funded through the federal government,” she said.
Across the country, 23 programs, spread throughout 11 states, did not receive the annual grant they had been scheduled to receive yesterday. The National Head Start Association has estimated that, without intervention, the shutdown could cause as many as 19,000 more children to lose Head Start services nationwide.
