NYC DOE Lost thier Head Start Funding. Now What?

Head Start has long been a lifeline for thousands of children from low-income families in New York City, providing early education, health services, and support during critical developmental years. The DOE’s current Head Start grant, which supports roughly 6,000 early care and education slots via its own contract as well as additional seats through subcontractors,was up for re-competition, amid concerns about performance that have surfaced in audits and federal reviews. Recently, DOE and city officials confirmed that NYC lost thier federal Head Start grant worth about $78 million.

What this means is fewer seats for children, staff layoffs and closures of existing centers. Additionally, this problem will be exacerbated due to the closure of the NYC regional Head Start Office which typically would provide support during funding transitions.

What’s needed now is transparency and urgency from both federal and city authorities. The DOE should share clearly with providers, parents, and community stakeholders what contingencies were planned once the possiblity of the losing the grant was realized. City leadership has already taken steps: for example, NYC pledged to use city funds to shore up some Head Start programs, however we will need to see if this promise is materialized. Also, Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said that the city will use its own budget dollars to keep the programs running through the current school year. However, after June many children may lose services. It’s not clear how—or if—the programs will be funded after this coming year without the federal grant.

There are two additional options that have been deployed by the Office of Head Start in other large communities that have lost a Head Start grant that could be utilized in NYC. First, the grant could be given to an interim provider (typically CDI) and they will operate the program until additional providers are selected. Secondly, the funds may be used to re-open the recompetition process and providers will once again have the opportunity to apply to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services. Lastly, perhaps the money will go into the Head Start and Early Head Start expansion grant pool of funding. Like all the children and families depending on the Head Start and Early Head Start program, we also will have to wait and see.