Arizona’s Head Start program at risk amid federal budget cuts

The Trump Administration is considering a budget proposal that would eliminate funding for Head Start. In January, programs experienced a federal funding freeze, followed by a reduction in federal support staff for Head Start.

Head Start is a federally funded program offering a range of social services, high-quality early childhood education, as well as health and nutrition services to low-income children and families. Each year, Head Start serves nearly 800,000 children across the nation. In Arizona, more than 17,000 children from birth to age five benefit from Head Start programs. 

Eve Del Real, Arizona Head Start Association President and Assistant Director of the Early Education Division with Maricopa County, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the impact of a funding freeze and staff reductions already underway.

Real explained that while the administration had backed off the initial proposals of eliminating funding for Head Start, changes have already occurred that make the job of running the program harder. “There was a mass consolidation of regional offices that were assigned to Health and Human Services,” Real said. “So that had an impact on local Head Start programs because we now do not have an assigned local regional office that helps with the oversight.”

“They were active partners for us, so not having that resource does create a few delays when it comes to payment and just other technical assistance that we typically would receive from the regional office.”

Funding freezes that occurred earlier in the year have stopped, but according to Real issues still remain. “There were some funding freezes that were experienced initially, but as we’re moving forward now with some of the additional supports that are being put in place we’re noticing a reduction,” Real said. “But there’s still some inconsistencies when it comes to that.”

In spite of all the challenges the program is facing from federal funding and resource changes, Real is still confident in the program’s ability to continue providing services for the families under it. “What I can say is that, at least on behalf of the state of Arizona, grantees still continue to provide services at a high level of quality and continue to be very committed to the service despite that,” Real said. “We’re doing the best we can considering the space that we’re in right now.”