SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – The government shutdown is threatening to close the doors on early education for some of our community’s most vulnerable children, leaving working parents scrambling for childcare and shutting some of the nation’s neediest children out of preschool. However, in the greater Springfield area there seems to be a contingency plan.
Right now, 600 children in Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke don’t know if their preschool will be open past the month of November. The federal government was supposed to send funding on November 1, but the shutdown stopped that money cold.
Head Start is a free, federally funded program that provides comprehensive early learning, health, and family support services to low-income families with children under five. It promotes school readiness by offering education, health and dental screenings, nutrition, and mental health services. The program includes two main components: Head Start for children aged 3-5 and Early Head Start for infants, toddlers, and pregnant women.
With the government shutdown many of these programs face closures across the country.
Western Mass News spoke with Nicole Blais the CEO of Head Start Programs in Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke. “Hopefully it’s not a prolonged shutdown because we would not be able to operate our program on, you know, our Head Start state supplemental funds.” Said Blais. She added that they would normally have received federal funding on November 1, but with the government shutdown in progress they did not receive that necessary money. “So, we have been busy working on a contingency plan to keep our Head Start program open during this time. And we’re able to do that with the state Head Start state supplemental funds that we have access to, which we are very fortunate and very appreciative to have.”