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USA Today
17-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Oregon leaders honor nearly 60 years of Head Start amid federal funding uncertainty
Oregon leaders honor nearly 60 years of Head Start amid federal funding uncertainty Show Caption Hide Caption The Oregon Pioneer, aka Gold Man, by the numbers Learn details about the statue on the top of the Oregon State Capitol, including height, weight and gold leaf skin. Gov. Tina Kotek delivered a video message ahead of the upcoming 60th anniversary of Head Start. Head Start serves over 11,000 children and families across 32 Early Head Start centers in Oregon. Leaders are calling for continued state support as federal funding uncertainties threaten the program's future. Gov. Tina Kotek issued a proclamation on May 16 celebrating nearly 60 years of Head Start in Oregon, a program she said reflected a dedication to supporting children and families even as federal funding uncertainties have jeopardized it. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said May 14 the federal administration would preserve funding. Still, according to the National Head Start Association, nearly half of Head Start's regional offices were closed after layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield joined a coalition of states suing the Trump administration over its freeze on federal funding, which locked out Head Start programs from their payment management portals, according to the complaint. A judge temporarily blocked the freeze on March 6. Parents and Head Start providers have filed a separate lawsuit challenging Trump's actions against Head Start. The plaintiffs include Family Forward Oregon. "Taking this program away continues cycles of poverty and unfairly targets the children and families it was created to support," Candice Vickers, executive director of Family Forward Oregon, said in an April 28 press release. If federal funding is eliminated, an estimated 5,700 families would lose services and close to 2,000 people would lose their jobs, Charleen Strauch, president of Oregon's Association of Head Start, told lawmakers at an informational meeting on May 8. Head Start program serves thousands in Oregon Project Head Start was launched in 1965 after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty during his State of the Union speech. According to the Office of Head Start, the program was funded to serve more than 774,000 children and pregnant women in the U.S. from 2023 to 2024. Strauch told lawmakers more than 11,000 children and families receive services at 32 Early Head Start centers in Oregon. In Marion and Polk counties, 724 children receive services through Head Start. "We're very grateful for the support of our government partners," said Jimmy Jones, executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency. "Project Head Start was based and rooted in this principle that we're going to make sure that an entire generation of children are not left behind." Jones said it's been one of the most successful anti-poverty programs in American history. He said he depended on Head Start as a parent in the '90s when he was "beyond broke." His daughter graduated from McNary High School and Oregon State University. Oregon Head Start leaders thank Gov. Tina Kotek, state for support Jones and other leaders gave a tour of the Silverton Road Head Start that serves 17 preschool children, urging continued financial support for the program from the state. The Oregon Head Start Association has asked the Oregon Legislature for more than $387 million for the program to maintain current service levels. "We are just so grateful for the consistent support our program and all Oregon Head Start programs have received for many, many years from Oregon," said Eva Pignotti, chief program officer of early learning and child care at MWVCAA. "It's a time when we're counting on you to be there for us, because the federal funding side, as you know, is fraught with concern and questions." Representatives for Kotek and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas were also present. Inside, 10 children from ages 3 to 5 showed off the houses they were building to shelter mealworms, part of their lessons around bugs and their life cycles. A ladybug enclosure and butterfly habitat were also inside the classroom. Alicia Flores, a Head Start teacher, said she's worked for the program for eight years and takes pride in helping children develop before they enter kindergarten. Speaking in Spanish, Flores said some of the students at the center could not communicate in English and would require her to translate. She said they often don't need her help by the end of the year. "When we invest early, we don't just change outcomes, we change kids' and families' lives," said Johnna Timmes, education initiatives director for Kotek. "The program's comprehensive approach, blending education, health, nutrition, and family services, has been a model of how we support children and families, not just to survive, but to thrive." Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@ on X @DianneLugo or Bluesky @
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thousands of Oregon, Washington children at risk if Head Start ends, lawsuit alleges
Advocates who urged the Oregon Legislature to increase child care funding in January 2024 hung onesies and other children's clothes on a tent outside the Capitol in Salem. They planned to donate the clothes after Thursday's demonstration. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle) More than 25,000 children in Oregon and Washington will lose the child care and early education their families rely on if the Trump administration continues its attempts to dismantle Head Start, say northwest nonprofit organizations that signed onto a lawsuit against the administration. For the past 60 years, the federal Head Start program has provided child care and early learning opportunities to low-income children, many of whom are from non-white families or speak languages other than English. But since President Donald Trump returned to office, the U.S. Department of Health Human Services has informed Head Start agencies they can't use any federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and abruptly closed half of its regional offices, including the Seattle office that supported programs in Washington and Oregon. Earlier this month, the Associated Press obtained a memo from the federal Office of Management and Budget calling for eliminating the Head Start program, as well as programs for teen pregnancy and Lyme disease. All of that led Family Forward Oregon and the Washington State Association of Head Start and Early Childhood Assistance and Education Program to join Head Start associations from Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and a parents group from Oakland, California, in suing the Health and Human Services Department, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other federal officials to prevent cuts. 'Over the last three months, Donald Trump has put a bullseye on the backs of 3- and 4-year-olds,' Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington program, said during a Tuesday press call. 'He's done everything to disrupt, dismantle and eventually paralyze the Head Start program.' In Washington, that included a Head Start agency shutting down temporarily earlier this month when it didn't receive federal funding, depriving more than 400 families of child care and 70 workers of their jobs. That child care center in Sunnyside eventually reopened. More than 14,300 Washington children and more than 12,000 Oregon children receive services through Head Start. Candice Vickers, the executive director of Family Forward Oregon, is a Head Start alumna. Her nonprofit organization, with members including mothers, caregivers and child care providers, advocates for child care at the state Legislature and with the federal government. In recent months, Vickers said she has heard from a single mom of three in Portland who expects to lose her job if she loses access to Head Start because she can't afford child care on her own. From families in Corvallis who learned last week that their Early Head Start program, which serves infants, was shut down with no reopen date. And from a mother in rural Oregon who credited Head Start for helping her recover from addiction and teaching her daughter to love reading. 'Head Start is more than just a preschool program,' Vickers said. 'It's a lifeline for working parents. It provides kids with the tools they need to succeed in school. It offers meals, dental care, mental health support and resources for these important parents.' Oregon already has a severe child care shortage: A report prepared for the state's Early Learning Division in 2023 found that nearly all counties are child care deserts, with one slot for every three children who need care. Without access to regulated child care, parents may have to give up work or rely on an unstable patchwork of caregivers, and businesses have a harder time recruiting employees. Losing Head Start would have ripple effects through the rest of the economy, Vickers said. 'Once you're fired from your job for not having access to childcare, you're not going to get that job back,' she said. 'These things that are happening won't be able to be fixed by changing our mind tomorrow.' U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said cuts to Head Start threaten years of progress toward making child care more available and affordable to families. Murray, who chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee when Democrats last controlled the chamber, negotiated an additional $1 billion for child care and early education as part of a $1.2 trillion spending package last year. That included a $275 million increase for Head Start. 'A couple of billionaires with no idea about what they are doing came along and decided to take an ax to Head Start,' Murray said. 'Talk about clueless. Talk about careless. Instead of giving our kids a head start, Trump and Musk want to give billionaires another tax break and give families the cold shoulder.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Parents, child care providers march at Oregon State Capitol for accessible child care
About 100 people marched Tuesday from Amiguitos & Family Child Care Center in Salem to rally at the Oregon State Capitol before lobbying legislators to support bills that would improve access to affordable child care. Marchers chanted "Care Can't Wait" and "Si se puede," meaning "We can do it," banged on drums and carried signs with slogans like "Every family deserves quality child care." The march was organized by Family Forward Oregon, which describes itself as a "feminist organization committed to racial, gender, and economic justice," as well as the Child Care for Oregon Coalition and the Oregon Working Families Party. According to Family Forward, the waitlist for Oregon's Employment Related Day Care includes more than 10,000 families. The subsidy program helps working families afford child care. Advocates said the program is currently only funded to support about 12% of eligible families and ERDC needs an additional $500 million to meet Oregon's needs. Marchel Marcos, 32, of Hillsboro, said as a single mom raising two children she was never able to find child care she could afford. Marcos, the political director of Family Forward, said she was consistently denied access to care for her sons, now 13 and 9, because her sons' father was viewed as an available parent even though she said he was a domestic abuser. "They still saw the parent at home, who was my abuser, as an available child care provider, which kept me in that relationship until my kids were elementary age," Marcos said. Her sons, Royce and Kenji, joined her at Tuesday's march, leading the way with drums. Iyania McClendon, 24, said she had her son, now 3, a year after moving to Portland from Louisiana. McClendon said she couldn't find anyone to watch her son and her six-month old daughter until her mother moved from Louisiana to watch them. McClendon is a poet who goes by Soulful Sista Solflower. She does freelance and short-term work as a performer and coach, and said she had difficulty finding a full-time job where she could work while watching her children. "It sucks to know that I'm not alone in this, but it's also good to know that I'm not alone in wanting to fight against it," McClendon said. Maria Ceci Hinojos Pressey, the deputy director of PCUN, Oregon's farmworker union, spoke at the march. She said the inaccessibility of child care prevents people from getting raises and promotions because they have to stay home and take care of their children. "The people that make sure we have food on our table face a child care desert every single day," Pressey said. "Many people have to pull out of the workforce because they can't find child care." Parents and care providers lobbied lawmakers to support several bills to improve access and affordability for child care, in addition to asking for a budgetary increase for ERDC. Those bills include: House Bill 2593 would require the Department of Early Learning and Care to report enrollment in ERDC and identify strategies to increase enrollment. It's scheduled for a possible work session April 3. House Bill 2452 would strengthen the referral system that helps connect families with child care resources and providers. It's scheduled for a possible work session April 1. House Bill 2450 would require the DELC to prepare a child care impact statement when legislation is being considered that could impact the workforce and increase child care needs. No hearings or work sessions have been scheduled. House Bill 3008 would provide funding for the recruitment and retention of child care providers in Oregon. It's scheduled for a work session April 8. Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at ifunk@ or on X at @isabeldfunk This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Parents, caregivers lobby lawmakers to fund Oregon child care
