From Head Start of Lane County Chapter 600 President Sherry Beach and Vice President Stacey Conrad:
As OSEA members, we’re part of a network of thousands of Oregon’s education employees, who all stand together to advocate for better contracts, working conditions and benefits. Head Start employees need our union siblings to advocate for us right now.
We are the President and Vice President of Head Start of Lane County Chapter 600, which has about 230 members. Every one of us is concerned about our jobs right now, because Head Start programs are funded predominately by the federal government.
As of now, it’s unclear whether we’ll continue to receive federal funding. Our Executive Director recently let us know that, while our program isn’t specifically listed for elimination, we still may not be covered by the next budget. If Head Start of Lane County loses our federal funding, our program will be restructured to subsist on our limited state funding and many of the staff will lose our jobs. Nearly a thousand children and families across Lane County will lose access to our services, from Oak Ridge to Florence.
Lane County is not the only Head Start program in this situation – there are about 500 OSEA members working in Head Starts across the state and their funding is also on the line. OSEA does not represent Head Start staff in Ashland, but we saw our potential future play out there recently when Ashland Head Start’s funding was frozen. The program almost closed, only to be saved at the last moment due to public outcry.
Head Start, quite literally, lifts families out of poverty. It’s an essential lifeline for thousands of families nationwide. The program was founded as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. It was meant to level the playing field for children across the United States born to families with fewer financial resources. Over our many years as Head Start employees, we’ve seen that happen thousands of times. Some of our own children were Head Start kids and we can trace their successful lives, in part, back to the decision to enroll them in Head Start.
Head Start allows young families to contribute meaningfully to the economy and to their households. We start working with families the moment they find out they’re pregnant until the day their children walk into kindergarten. We provide education and care so the parents can have jobs and support the family. We assist with early childhood development including literacy, social, emotional and physical development. We provide nutrition support and access to vision, dental and hearing care. It’s difficult to quantify the impact losing our services would have on economically fragile homes.
It will be absolutely heartbreaking for all Head Start staff statewide if we can no longer help young families launch their lives successfully. We are in this field because we love our jobs and we work for Head Start because Head Start works. Head Start has been around for more than 60 years and dozens of studies have shown that it effectively improves educational and economic outcomes for the children it serves.
Please, contact your legislators. Congress will be working on the budget in the coming months. Let our senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, know that Head Start is priceless and needs to be funded. Let your congressional representative know that Head Start is important to you. If we don’t speak up now, our communities could lose this lifeline.