Advocates rally to support federally-funded child care program

Families, teachers and other advocates rallied in support of a federally-funded early childhood program called Head Start at the Nebraska Capitol on Tuesday. Attendees were celebrating the 60-year anniversary of the program this month and its continued funding.

An initial draft of President Donald Trump’s budget request called on Congress to cut the program, which serves low-income families, but the official request made Friday kept its funding. State Sen. Jason Prokop, who is also the director of First Five Nebraska, said he heard from many parents and teachers who were concerned about the potential loss of the program.

“If somehow there were cuts, it would have a really detrimental impact on those families, on communities,” Prokop said.

More than 5,500 children are enrolled in the early childhood program in Nebraska. Prokop said there are already 15% fewer child care spots in the state than there are children who need care. Without Head Start, that number would rise to 19%.

“It would be a crisis, to be frank,” Prokop said. “There's already a child care capacity gap in the state. We don't have enough child care to meet the needs of working families.”

Mark Haba, who lives in between Lawrence and Glenvil in south-central Nebraska, had two kids who went through Head Start and another starting next year.

“If you have time to go sit in the classroom, you will just appreciate this Head Start program tremendously.” Haba said. "I mean, I shut down the planter, shut down the heavy equipment. I'm here standing up for something worth standing up for.”

Haba is also on the policy council for Head Start. He said the program is “one of the best bangs for the bucks.”

“I don’t look at it as wasting my time when I got to do my monthly meetings and stuff for policy council and help out,” Haba said. “It’s time well spent.”

Heather Loughman, chief executive officer at Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties, said the program she runs has three centers in Lincoln and a home visiting program, which in total serve more than 440 children.

“Until the final budget is approved by Congress and ultimately approved by the president, we will continue to rally for Head Start and ensure that our lawmakers know of its importance in our state and our country,” Loughman said.

Loughman said there are several benefits children see in Head Start, including improvements socially, cognitively and emotionally.

“Children may be below expectations when they first enter our program,” Loughman said. “Then they're meeting or exceeding expectations by the time they've spent time in our programs.”

Loughman added that other benefits, like a decreased likelihood to enter the juvenile justice system and an increased likelihood of graduating from high school, are also associated with Head Start.