3 days ago
Trump administration budget cut flip-flops leave southwest Georgia Head Start programs uncertain
DAWSON – LaTosha Peters kept a journal to track her son Damien's development as a child diagnosed with autism.
Getting his diagnosis at just 1 1/2 years old, Damien struggled socially and verbally. Peters said her child navigated echolalia in his early years, involuntarily repeating words or phrases he'd heard from others. At 3 years old, Damien was accepted into the Terrell County Head Start Center. And there, Peters said, he began to blossom.
'Through Head Start, he learned how to talk, he began reading … getting along with other children,' she said.
Peters noticed new developments and big changes every day, jotting them in her 'Damien Journal.' Teachers made students write their name every day – even if they couldn't write, they still had to try. As Damien's signature went from lines, to shapes to letters, his physical, verbal and emotional ability transformed as well.
This development is part of the core mission of Head Start, a federal program that provides free early learning, health and family support services to low-income families from pre-birth all the way to age 5. The program served 833,000 low-income students in the U.S. in 2022, including nearly 19,000 students in Georgia. In rural, poverty-stricken areas like Terrell County, it's one of the few, if not only, early education and child care options for families.
In mid-April, the program faced a potential funding crisis and complete elimination outlined in an internal draft budget from the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services.
'When I heard things were up in the air … and they were going to do away with Head Start, I was like, 'Oh, my God. They don't understand the impact this is going to have on families, especially those in high poverty,'' Peters said. 'I'm hoping this is a program that's gonna be around for a long time because it's really needed.'
Several centers across the country were forced to close while awaiting funding. However, in early May, the administration released an updated 'skinny budget.' Head Start avoided the chopping block, but advocates remain nervous. In southwest Georgia, Head Start's parent organization, the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, which serves low-income Georgians from housing assistance to health care, may see other cuts.
'The value of the program is undervalued and undermined,' Yolanda Daniels, the southwest Georgia Head Start program director said. 'Any threat to that is a threat to our communities as a whole.' Supporting the whole child and family
A Terrell County Head Start classroom is alive with color and hands-on learning stations. A tiny play kitchen sits in one corner, and in another is an open space for dancing and exercising. The sounds of nursery rhymes, music and 'oohs' and 'ahhs' as children sound out letters can be heard behind every classroom door.
Anita Ware, the Terrell County Child Development Center's supervisor, said each day is meticulously planned out from 8:30 a.m. until about 3 p.m for its 74 students. Head Start classrooms are packed full of stimulating activities for students. Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan'There's no idle time,' she said. 'It guides teachers and students through a day of stimulation and fulfillment.'
Classrooms are spaces for exploration as children fine tune their motor skills by stacking blocks, embrace their creativity in the 'art area' and learn responsibility by taking on classroom roles, like 'the nutritionist' who hands out meals or 'the librarian' who organizes the reading area.
Daniels said more than just child care and education, Head Start supports the 'whole child and family.' Students receive health screenings and get scheduled for doctor's appointments at no charge to the families. Terrell County's Head Start programming offers monthly workshops for parents, where they learn about child nutrition or parenting skills. Parents are connected to different resources throughout the community, whether it's the health department or housing authority.
Ware said these are services that low-income families would otherwise not have access to.
'A lot of our families do take pride in having all of their children go through the program or having multiple family members, but our goal is to break that cycle of poverty so future generations will not need our Head Start program,' Daniels Start has trickle-down effects
Ultimately, Head Start prepares underserved students to transition to public school.
Peters said without the early intervention and learning for her son with autism, his future may have looked very different. Instead, he made it to high school – graduating with honors. Now, he's a college student at Georgia Southwestern State University. He has plans to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education.
As the principal at Cooper Carver Elementary School, Peters said she notices a difference in those students who went through Head Start – whether it's better test scores or skill sets as simple as patience while waiting in the lunch or bathroom line.
2025 Head Start growth reports released by the Community Action Council show significant gains in social/emotional, literacy and mathematics from fall 2024 until now among students in the program. Randy Weldon, the SWGACAC CEO, said these gains show how necessary Head Start is.
Daniels said no Head Start would have a trickle-down effect on communities: a student body population less prepared for elementary school, parents unable to get to work, the inability for children with disabilities to get much-needed services.
'In smaller, more rural counties, if Head Start services were not there, there are very few, and in some cases, no other child care available in those counties,' Weldon said. 'If you've got … a single parent who is trying to work and maintain a job and maintain income for a household, if we're not there, I hate to think about the choices they would have to make.'Community Action Council grapples with potential cuts
While most of the fears surrounding Head Start funding have dissipated, Weldon said there's a general nervousness among SWGA Community Action Council staff as other funding streams remain up in the air.
'You may not necessarily know our agencies and services, but if they were gone, you'd feel it,' Weldon said.
The Community Action Council, which has supported southwest Georgia for 60 years, is entirely supported by federal funds. It serves roughly 21 counties with a goal of helping people living in poverty to climb out.
It's reliant on the Community Services Block Grant, which was zeroed out in Trump's proposed 'skinny budget.' No longer having these funds would mean a significant cut to council staffing and closure of local 'neighborhood service centers' where communities can access services. It would eradicate the council's ability to provide emergency housing, utility or health assistance.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program also seemingly was at risk of cuts, but Community Action Council staff were informed Thursday that additional funds were made available.
The Community Action Council is already struggling as it loses COVID-19 recovery funding but still faces a pandemic-era need for its services.
'Since the pandemic, we've had people coming to us who've never had to come to us before,' Weldon said. 'We've gone back to pre-pandemic funding … so it's a little more difficult because folks are still … facing lingering effects.'
The council also employs 550 people and budgets about $40 million to support its southwest Georgia clients.
'You take those jobs away … you take that funding out of the community, that's a big impact here,' Weldon said. Anita Ware sits at her supervisor desk; classroom schedules and parent information binders fill the space around her. Staff Photo: Lucille LanniganWeldon said he understands the need for cutting costs at the federal level, but he doesn't want necessary areas or services to get caught up in the mix.
Ware said the Terrell County Child Development Center is carrying on, giving 100% to the children and families until it's no longer able to.
'We're small, but we have a real impact,' she said. 'Watching a child graduate from high school, knowing they were once here, and now they're a valedictorian or an honors student, it's a great feeling. It makes you proud.'
