Government Reopens, but Santa Cruz Head Start Families Still Face Child Care Crisis

Iracema Torres was starting a new job as a Santa Cruz County public health worker when her daughter’s Head Start center closed more than two weeks ago.

The job was promising: She liked the benefits, hours and coworkers and felt good about helping single parents like herself recover from substance abuse, domestic violence and other life struggles. The center’s closure, however, meant she had to take an unpaid leave to care for her 2-year-old.

“I am just stuck because I don’t have anyone to help me with child care,” Torres said. “It’s been super hard.”

The government was starting to reopen on Thursday, but the fallout of the longest shutdown in U.S. history will last longer for more than 200 low-income families who send their children to a Head Start program run by Encompass Community Services, the largest nonprofit in Santa Cruz County, and 95 teachers and staffers who were laid off.

Encompass was the only Head Start grantee in California to close its classrooms during the shutdown after running low on government dollars. The agency was due to receive its annual funding on Nov. 1, but staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were furloughed and couldn’t process payments.

Those federal workers are back at work, but it was unclear when Encompass will get funding to restart its program.

“We’re preparing to reopen, but we don’t know when that’s going to be,” said Kim Morrison, the agency’s chief financial officer and interim CEO.

She didn’t know the timeline because about 140 other Head Start programs around the country are also awaiting new funding.

When KQED asked a spokesperson for the federal Administration for Children and Families how long it may take for money to flow to Head Start grantees, they acknowledged the inquiry but did not have an immediate answer.

Adding to the uncertainty is that Congress approved a spending package that funds the government only through January. It’s unclear whether programs like Encompass will be fully or partially funded, said Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California.

“There’s also a possibility at the end of January that we’ll be facing down another shutdown, which would be devastating,” she said.

Encompass leadership tried to minimize the impact by partnering with the Pajaro Valley Unified District in Watsonville to temporarily care for Head Start children starting this week. The district held a job fair to try to bring Encompass employees on board. So far, about 20 families have opted in, Morrison said.

But laid-off teachers like Christina Mesta worry the partnership puts the agency’s federal grant at risk. The school district leases classrooms to Encompass to operate the program, and Mesta asserts that the materials and equipment in those classrooms hold federal interest.

Without getting government approval of the partnership, she said, “they may take away the grant entirely, which would put the staff without jobs and families without services.”

“There’s a lot at stake because of this,” Mesta said.

Morrison said the agency notified the Office of Head Start of the partnership and worked to ensure the arrangement is temporary, and that families and teachers who choose to go to those classrooms can come back to Head Start.

“We are comfortable that we are not violating any kind of regulations that Head Start has in doing this,” Morrison said.

The uncertainty weighs on Torres. She has less than a month to find another child care arrangement before returning to work. She said she has looked for openings at private child care centers, but the $1,900 to $2,200 monthly costs for full-time care is as much as her rent.

“If I don’t have child care, then I don’t have work,” she said. “If I don’t have work, I don’t have money to pay my bills.”

Other laid-off workers, like Gavriel Smith, who handles maintenance at the Head Start centers, said they’re praying funding comes through soon.

Smith said he has filed for unemployment, applied for food stamps and is picking up handyman jobs to support himself and his 5-year-old son.

“I’m doing my due diligence for now,” he said. “But going into the holidays, I know it’s going to be tough.”