Overview
- The Nov. 1 funding lapse left 140 grantees across 41 states without awards—programs with capacity for about 65,000 children—even as federal judges ordered SNAP to continue using reserve funds.
- Twenty-four Migrant and Seasonal Head Start centers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and Oklahoma have closed, affecting more than 1,100 children and furloughing about 900 staff, according to the East Coast Migrant Head Start Project.
- In Massachusetts, four Self Help, Inc. centers in Brockton and Norwood shut down, leaving about 550 children without care and more than 150 staff furloughed, while other programs are operating on short-term state dollars that administrators say will not last.
- Ohio has two providers closed in Highland and Scioto counties, affecting roughly 600 children and 150 staff, with five more programs running on donations and reserves and additional temporary closures expected in Coshocton and Allen counties in two weeks.
- Virginia’s programs remain open through contingency funding, but the state’s Head Start association warns closures could be considered if the shutdown extends past the next round of Dec. 1 grant renewals.