Don’t short-change our kids

Although the country is preparing to celebrate the holiday season, the potential outcomes of Washington’s lame-duck season have our full attention. On the heels of the mid-term elections, and in preparation for a new session, Congress has reconvened to conduct the people’s business.

Much is riding on how our elected officials decide to appropriate funds for educational, health and other support services for low-income families. The economic climate that has defined our country for the past two years has pushed people out of jobs and into poverty. Without question, the widening poverty gap is having severe consequences on the health and economic security of our children. For millions of already overstretched families, more budget cuts would be like having the rug pulled out from beneath them. The impact at the local and state levels would be devastating, resulting in heightened economic uncertainty and more families left with little to no outside resources.

Recognizing the urgency to respond swiftly to the economic crisis and the future of our children, Congress turned to Head Start for its 45-year proven track record and national commitment to serving at-risk children and their families. Prudently, our elected officials chose to appropriate additional funds to Head Start/Early Head Start in an effort to sustain our nation’s most vulnerable, while wrangling the widening poverty gap.

As a result, the funding has successfully expanded the capacity of Head Start/Early Head Start to provide more children from birth through age 5 with a range of educational, health, nutrition and family support services to help put them on a pathway to success. New classrooms were built and renovated, buses were purchased, staff received additional training and credentials, and Head Start/Early Head Start was able to serve 61,000 additional children, families, and communities.

However, the reality remains that for struggling families, the ability to provide opportunities for their children to succeed in school and enter the workplace prepared and able to compete, is gradually slipping away. U.S. Census Bureau data shows that from 2008-09, an additional 6,500 Alaskans fell below the poverty line and here in the Mat-Su, the unemployment rate in 2010 climbed above 11 percent for the first time since 1997. Given the dramatic increase in our local population, and the current economic conditions — the gap between community needs and the number of children and families Head Start/Early Head Start can serve is much wider than only a year ago.

Fortunately, the additional funding for Head Start/Early Head Start created almost 100 jobs in Alaska this year, 14 right here in the Mat-Su Valley. And, almost 300 additional Alaska children received support services that would have otherwise been unavailable to them. In our local area, CCS Early Learning was successful in obtaining funding to provide 60 children and their families Early Head Start services, a program that had never been offered in the Mat-Su. However, if Congress does not vote to maintain the funding in the current federal budget proposal, the critical lifeline for children and families will be cut, and these important gains will be lost.

The impact Head Start/Early Head Start programs have on sustaining the livelihoods of children, their families and local communities is not wholly measurable in numerical figures or dollar amounts. By maintaining consistent and effective support services, families and communities are afforded a level of confidence and security despite economic uncertainty.

Easing the financial burdens of at-risk children and their families so they may access basic health care and educational opportunities goes hand-in-hand with American job preservation and growth. If we don’t stabilize and invest in the communities that need it most, the future of the economy will remain less competitive and less innovative - which means fewer jobs for everyone.

Our elected officials have a duty to help those in need - not for the sake of giving handouts, but in gratitude for the times each of us has received help somewhere along the way. After all, this is not a partisan issue. It’s a humanitarian issue that addresses what every American wants and needs: the opportunity to build a better life.

Mark Lackey has worked for CCS Early Learning since 1999 and served as the executive director since 2005. He also serves as treasurer of the Alaska Head Start Association, as chair of A MATter of SUccess: A Best Beginnings Partnership, and as vice president of the board with Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults.

Yasmina S. Vinci is the executive director of the National Head Start Association.