Lead teacher Retchel Armas works with children ages 3 to 5 at Vineyard Crossings Head Start in American Canyon, California, on Feb. 13. It's one of 17 child care and early education centers in Napa and Solano counties operated by Child Start Inc., which is trying to figure out how to ensure the centers keep running amid the Trump administration's federal funding disruptions. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
On the morning he learned the Trump administration had ordered a freeze on federal grant funding, Juan Cisneros called an emergency meeting with the staff at Child Start Inc., which serves 800 Head Start children in Napa and Solano counties.
The end of January was approaching, and the nonprofit agency needed to recoup money it just spent to pay its 230 employees. However, when a fiscal officer tried several times to request reimbursements from a payment portal run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they were blocked from accessing the system.
Cisneros, Child Start’s executive director, said he had never experienced a funding disruption like this in his 27 years working with Head Start.
“It seemed like an overnight implementation of an order that we just had no control over,” Cisneros said. “We had no backup plan. It just happened so suddenly.”
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A White House memo announcing a funding pause to federal grants, loans and programs sparked worry that Child Start Inc. would have to close classrooms.
A payment came a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the funding freeze, Cisneros said, but he’s worried about future funding delays because at least 45 Head Start grant recipients in other parts of California and states reported payment delays more than a week after the judge’s order.
The Department of Health and Human Services blamed the problem on “technical issues” with the payment portal, which has been fixed.
There have been no additional reports of payment delays among members of Head Start California, said the association’s executive director, Melanee Cottrill. However, she’s concerned that the firing of several dozen federal employees at the Administration for Children and Families, which oversees Head Start grants, will affect local programs.
Caregiver Briggit Cervantes works with children ages two to three at Vineyard Crossings Head Start in American Canyon on Feb. 13. Lower-income families rely on the center for child care while they work or look for a job. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“This will mean delays in processing applications and providing technical assistance, which will impede our ability to serve children and families,” Cottrill said.
The uncertainty prompted Cisneros to think about how to keep services going in the event of another funding disruption. He said he lost confidence in the payment system and thinks the Trump administration may make cuts to early childhood education programs.
“We expect that there’s going to be more, so we’re just trying to prepare and have a Plan B should something else happen,” he said.
Child Start receives an annual $19 million grant to operate 17 child care and early education centers, but the grant is not paid out in a lump sum. Instead, it draws down about $800,000 from a federal account two times per month in order to pay rent, payroll, food and other operating expenses. Receiving those funds on time is important because it does not have a lot of reserve funds and isn’t allowed to use federal funds to pay late fees.
“We need a system that’s up and running and reliable to be able to access those funds when we need them,” Cisneros said. “This is really the first time that the [payment] system wasn’t available, and it just felt like we were intentionally being denied access.”
Lead teacher Retchel Armas leads children in a painting exercise at Vineyard Crossings Head Start in American Canyon. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
News of the funding pause prompted board members of Child Start Inc. to consider spending cuts and work with local nonprofits to figure out how to leverage other sources of funding.
Employees and parents said they didn’t know how federal grants work until they were suddenly confronted with the prospect of losing their jobs and access to Head Start services.
“I didn’t know the logistics,” said Neale Losito, who directs one of Child Start’s early learning centers in American Canyon, a suburb located between Vallejo and Napa. “I thought we’re granted this much money, and we get it all at once. I didn’t know that we don’t have it, really.”
She said she’s worried about what might happen to the lower-income or homeless families who rely on her center for child care while they work or look for a job.
“We have to stay open so that the child can come to preschool, so mom can go to work. And if we’re suddenly cut off, there’s just a domino effect for everyone,” Losito said.
Parents like Jovan Polk said the eight hours of care his 3-year-old son, Jayce, receives at the center each day enables him to work a full shift as a security guard. Polk said he and his wife don’t have relatives nearby to help with child care, and they can’t afford a babysitter.
“The hours are perfect. We can go to work and don’t have to worry about him,” Polk said.
Polk said his son’s social skills and speech have improved since he has been at the center.
It’s the kind of support that Cisneros — himself a product of a Head Start program for the children of migrant farm workers — said can make a huge difference for working-class families.
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