Worries are growing over funding for Head Start, the decades-old federal program that provides child care, nutrition assistance and other services to the nation's poorest families — as the White House is reportedly considering shutting it down, Axios' Maya Goldman and Emily Peck write.
Why it matters: More than 790,000 children, through age 5, rely on Head Start for learning, meals and health care services, per a Wednesday report from the liberal Center for American Progress.
Zoom in: Around 20,500 Head Start students in North Carolina are funded through federal grants, according to Head Start's own tallies from 2022.
- North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District, which is represented by Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat, is one of the largest recipients of Head Start funding, according to CAP.
- Eleven Head Start grants worth $134 million are administered from Ross' district.
What they're saying: "Head Start is the reason tens of thousands of children in North Carolina can get the support they need at a critical stage of life," Ross said in a statement to Axios.
- "Our state is already facing a devastating childcare crisis. Now, President Trump wants to eliminate this essential program, terminating federal nutrition, family support, health care, and early childhood education assistance for the most vulnerable kids in our state."
- Shuttering the program would be "catastrophic," says Casey Peeks, senior director of Early Childhood Policy at CAP.
Go deeper on the growing concerns about Head Start's future
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