Keyshania Edwards was excited to learn about a job opening for a substitute teacher at the Greengrove Head Start in Fairmont.
Her two children, Nova and Nolan, began attending the program in August, so the work would have been convenient for her family. And the extra money would have helped buy food and cover other expenses.
But soon after she submitted her application, Edwards found out interviews for the job were closed until further notice. The reason: Southeastern Community Action Partnership, which operates several Head Start and Early Head Start programs, closed its Green Grove site in Fairmont, along with sites in Lumberton and Shannon, because of the federal government shutdown.
About 134 Head Start programs across the United States closed after they did not receive their annual funding on November 1, leaving nearly 60,000 low-income children without the free child-care service, according to the National Head Start Association. Dozens of centers in North Carolina closed.
The government reopened last week, ending the longest shutdown in the nation’s history. But funding for some Head Start programs, including those run by Southeastern Community Action Partnership, is still in limbo.
“We want our kids back,” said Ericka Whitaker, executive director of the partnership. “We want them to be able to have services.”
Southeastern Community Action Partnership served 116 children at the three Robeson County sites that closed. Only 30 Head Start participants—kids between 3 and 5—transferred to other centers. Some families said they couldn’t transport their children to sites farther away, Whitaker said.
None of the 34 younger Early Head Start participants at the sites transferred because there wasn’t space for them at other centers.
Edwards now cares for 2-year-old Nolan at home while her husband works, making it tough for her to get a job. Nova, 4, attends the South Robeson site in Fairmont.
“It’s stressful, you know?” Edwards said. “Christmas is coming up. I was looking forward to making that extra money to get them some more gifts.”
Rural communities rely heavily on Head Start, which began in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty.”
Head Start accounts for about 20 percent of licensed child-care options in 22 rural North Carolina counties, Gov. Josh Stein wrote in a letter to congressional leaders in April.
Head Start programs across the state get more than $290 million a year in federal funding, Stein said. The programs support more than 5,600 jobs and allow low-income families to obtain child care while they work.
Public officials say North Carolina is in a child care crisis, as there aren’t enough seats at child-care centers to accommodate the number of children who need care.
“Head Start serves some of the most vulnerable families in our state, including families whose incomes fall below the federal poverty level, who receive public assistance, and who are experiencing homelessness, as well as children in foster care,” Stein wrote in the letter.
Southeastern Community Action Partnership receives roughly $13.6 million a year to operate 12 centers in seven counties. It can cost up to $14,263 to fund a single child.
The organization was able to keep most of its sites open because the majority of its funding won’t renew until June. But it lost $2.3 million from a grant that expired this month for Robeson County sites, said Denita Campbell, Head Start director for the partnership.
“We are happy that we can serve a few of the children, but we want to be able to serve them all,” Campbell said. “And we’re worried about the ones that we can’t serve. We just hope someone is giving them the care they need.”
Some sites are converting unused space to classrooms to accommodate students who have transferred from the shuttered programs. The Red Springs and South Robeson locations are at capacity, and many others are almost full, Campbell said.
Meanwhile, Southeastern Community Action Partnership furloughed seven case workers in late October. Campbell said some staff members were shuffled to other sites, but the organization needs to hire more teachers, assistants, custodians, and kitchen staff.
The organization had planned to make repairs and buy new equipment at some sites, but now it is reining in spending.
Brittany Maynor, a 36-year-old single mother of five children, sent her sons Kash and Ky’Lo to the Allenton Head Start in Lumberton, where she worked as a substitute teacher until it closed this month.
Maynor was transferred to the Pembroke site, where she enrolled 3-year-old Kash. But she had to find a private day-care center for 2-year-old Ky’Lo. Her 1-year-old is also in private day care.
With bills piling up, Maynor’s older children, ages 13 and 11, couldn’t play sports this year because she couldn’t afford the team registration fees.
“Something’s gotta get better. I hope something gets better,” Maynor said. “So I’m just praying about it, hoping that something changes.”
Edwards is hoping for better times, too. She will begin a seasonal job with UPS in the coming weeks, but she might have to pull her daughter out of the South Robeson Head Start if she can’t coordinate child care.
“I just thought this year was going to be different,” she said, “for them to be able to go to school and not have to worry about someone watching them while trying to go to work.”