WASHINGTON, D.C. – During the government shutdown, Head Start centers were in crisis mode. The delay in grant money made many of these vital programs close across the nation. We spoke with one Head Start center in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula about the challenges they faced during the shutdown.
“We’re a very rural community and a very small community so daycare options are limited,” said Renee Pertile, with the Head Start and Early Head Start program with the Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency. It’s in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
At this facility, they help about 115 children from birth to five years-old and pregnant women with their Head Start and Early Head Start programs. It’s a federally funded program for children from low-income families to help with early childhood education, provide several meals a day and provide resources and help to soon-to-be parents.
“The children that attend the Head Start program are here four days a week and they get three meals a day,” said Pertile. “We’re a full day program, so in essence we are many times daycare for working families.”
When the government shutdown dragged on and their grant money didn’t come, this program, along with several others across the nation, had to temporarily close their doors. According to the National Head Start Association, at least 16 states including Puerto Rico had Head Start programs closed due to the lapse in funding. At this location, staff scrambled to help make sure kids, families and their staff were cared for, even without the federal dollars.
“We did have staff that offered to provide daycare either in their home or the family’s home, so that worked out well because staff was on unemployment,” said Pertile. “So, they picked up kids in care for the families, and the other ones were – had a couple of options.”
Pertile adds one of their sites is near a church and partitioners helped families get food.
“Any families or staff that needed that; we did have some staff that were on unemployment so we were creating a list for staff and families available food pantries and things like that,” said Pertile.
Even though the shutdown is over, they’re still waiting on their November grant they’ve since been able to reopen by securing funds from the agency that gives them grants.
“Which is very helpful because our families started sharing last week that they had some needs regarding food and things like that,” said Pertile. “So, we needed to get our family engagement and home visitors back out in touch with those families to help them sometimes with this difficult season with the holidays coming up.”
Congress approved a short-term spending measure that will run through the end of January. If congress goes through another shutdown after January 30th, Pertile said their grants after January will already be processed. It gives them the chance to keep their doors open, even if the government is closed.
“It won’t have the effect it had this time if the government shuts down in January for whatever amount of time,” said Pertile. “It should be fine because we would have our grant and money. So, I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else because it was a challenge.”
We reached out to the White House and the Health and Human Service
