If the federal government shutdown doesn’t end in the next two days, it will affect not only food benefits for many low-income Ohio families in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. It could also shut out some of the 27,000 young children in the federally funded Ohio Head Start preschool program.
Seven Ohio Head Start programs could close on Saturday, which is when their federal grant money is set to arrive. Those programs serve 3,738 kids, or 14% of the more than 27,000 children in Ohio Head Start statewide. Three more rural programs are in danger as they don’t have the reserve funds to operate.
"There really is a ripple effect in terms of parents who count on Head Start to be able to go to work, the people who are employed by the program, the vendors they work with in the communities, and of course, the children who are missing out on the important developmental services that they're receiving when they show up in the morning," said Ohio Head Start Association Executive Director Julie Stone in an interview.
The closing of those Head Start programs will mean 940 staff members in those communities will lose their jobs. Stone added that for many of these families, they're either in areas with few other preschool and day care providers, or there are no other affordable options to consider.
"We don't know where these children will end up or what impact it will have on their families," Stone said. "This isn't an abstract concept. It's a mom making the decision of going to work or caring for her child, and we know that more than 70% of Head Start parents in Ohio are working."
Ohio Head Start provides early learning, nutrition and family support services for low-income kids up to age 5, including children who are homeless or in foster care. Stone adds that 10% of Head Start spots are reserved for children with disabilities.
Even if the shutdown ends soon, Stone said the planning and preparation to close has already done damage.
"These seven programs have spent the last three weeks trying to cope with contingency plans to continue serving families, or to provide some kind of services if they do need to close," Stone said. "The fact that this has been an issue for programs has been disruptive in that sense and they will have to work to rebuild that trust in those relationships."
Informal talks are continuing among members of Congress to try to bring an end to the shutdown, but so far there have been no formal negotiations among majority Republicans and minority Democrats.
