Empty Seats Press
Empty Seats = Lost OpportunitiesIf you received press about your Empty Seats = Lost Opportunities event but don't see your article here, please contact Kati Jackson (kjackson@nhsa.org). Head Start Falls BehindSANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA  "Fifty-three empty chairs set up in front of the Goleta Valley Community Center on Monday symbolized the 53 fewer children that will be able to attend Head Start classes in Santa Barbara County this year, the result of sequester cuts. The Community Action Commission (CAC), which administers Head Start here, also laid off nine full-time employees to cope with its sudden loss of funding. Nationwide, there will be 57,200 fewer spots for kids in the preschool program for economically disadvantaged families, including foster children and the homeless, according to the White House." Goleta Head Start Sets Out Seats Left Empty Under Federal Budget CutsGOLETA, CALIFORNIA  " Dozens of multicolored children's chairs lined the lawn of the Goleta Valley Community Center on Monday afternoon, sitting empty. All 53 of those empty seats represent the places that won't be filled by local children in Head Start programs because of federal budget cuts approved by Congress earlier this year. A group of education and nonprofit leaders gathered on the lawn to hear from Community Action Commission's Mattie Gadsby, who works as children's service director, and others about the dire situation." Lots of Empty SeatsMOUNDSVILLE, OHIO  "To the families and employees of the Northern Panhandle Head Start in Moundsville, the 37 empty seats on display Wednesday at the Fourth Street facility represent 37 local children who lost services from Head Start in July due to federal funding cuts. City officials and families gathered at the Fourth Street center to participate in the national "Empty Seats equals Lost Opportunities" campaign. To illustrate the impact of budget cuts on the nation's families, Head Start centers across the country are displaying an empty chair for each child that has been cut from the program." Head Start Leaders in Fresno Decry Federal Budget CutsFRANKLIN, CALIFORNIA  "Empty seats represent lost opportunities for children at a Head Start campus in southwest Fresno. The 76 empty chairs on display Tuesday in front of the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission’s Franklin Head Start represented 76 children who won’t be able to attend the early learning and development program this coming school year due to congressional budget cuts. 'These cuts have shaken my program to its core,' said Tamala Olsby, program director in Fresno. 'Head Start programs nationwide are being forced to make heart-wrenching decisions that will slam shut the window of opportunity for our country’s poorest children.'” Head Start visualizes impact of budget cutsHANFORD, CALIFORNIA  "County residents got a visual idea of how much last year’s sequester cuts impacted the local Head Start program. Kings Community Action Organization, which runs the program, held a demonstration Wednesday in which 123 empty chairs were displayed outside its office to show how many low-income children have been eliminated from the program due to cuts. The demonstration was in conjunction with others from Head Start programs across the nation. 'We want to give a visual so state legislators will see the impacts these cuts have had on these programs,' said Glenda Stephens, local Head Start child development director." Cuts to Head Start Hitting Home on South ShoreQUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS  "Cindy Hall has a special reason to be happy that her two young grandsons are in Quincy’s Head Start program. Without it, she says, they would just be at home with her, away from the care and instruction they get in the early childhood program. Without Head Start, they would be in foster care, she says. Two-year-old Austin Tatem and his 5-year-old brother, Daniel, live with Hall in the city’s Houghs Neck neighborhood. But Hall is disabled, and unable to care for them day in and day out." Sequestration Hurts Head StartCENTRAL POINT, OREGON "Because of the sequestration of federal funds by Congress, the valley's Head Start in the coming school year will cut 79 spots for preschool kids, ax 17 jobs and move 14 staffers to part-time. 'It's going to be hard. It's a good program, especially for Spanish speakers to learn English and be ready for kindergarten,' said Renatta Hernandez, who Thursday brought several of her children to a news event at the main Head Start Center in Central Point. 'It's most important to have food and education,' she added. 'I hope they take this chance to think about it.'" Casey Pushes to Stop Cuts for Head StartWILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA  "Eneida Cardona was nervous, but she managed to get her message out Thursday — her children and others have benefited from the pre-kindergarten programs at Head Start. Cardona, 43, of Plymouth, joined U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and others at the Beekman Street center to urge Congress to reverse impending sequester cuts that will, if enacted, eliminate places for some 142 children from the Luzerne County program, 2,812 in Pennsylvania and 57,265 across the country. The cuts would be for the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Washington County Head Starts Launch Awareness CampaignWASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS  "According to officials with Feed Fayetteville, 66 children will lose their seats at Washington County Head Starts this fall due to Sequester Cuts. That's why they've launched their "Empty Seats" Campaign, to illustrate the opportunities lost for those families cut from the program. Head Start is a federally funded child development program designed to help break the cycle of poverty by providing infants and preschool children of low- income families with a comprehensive program to meet their needs." Read more and watch the report Head Start Cuts Services For More Than 57,000 Children Due To SequestrationWASHINGTON, D.C.  "Head Start, the federal pre-K education service for low-income families, has eliminated services for more than 57,000 children in the coming school year as a result of the federal budget reductions known as sequestration. The cuts include a shorter school year and shorter school days, as well as laying off or reducing the pay for more than 18,000 employees nationwide. Others eliminated medical and dental screenings and bus routes. The latest numbers, first reported by the Washington Post, come from 'reduction plans' Head Start grantees submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services. Head Start had to absorb a 5.27 percent reduction to its $8 billion in funding." Read more and watch the report Sheldon Head Start Publicizes Impact Sequester Has on Children, FamiliesTOPEKA, KANSAS  "A local child development center is making a statement about the continued impact of federal budget cuts. 49 chairs were placed on the lawn at Sheldon Head Start Wednesday night during back to school night. The chairs indicate the 49 head start children that will not be served this year because of the sequester." Read more and watch the report Local Head Start Program Responds to Budget CutsHAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND  "A local early education program is feeling the destructive effects of federal government sequestration cuts. The loss in funding totals $230,275. 'I’ve been here 37 years and this is the most significant cut that we've ever experienced unfortunately,' said Paul Pittman, director of Head Start of Washington County. Head Start of Washington County put together a visual presentation this week to illustrate their losses." Read more and watch the report Budget Cuts Hurt Omaha Tribe Early Head Start ProgramMACY, NEBRASKA "Empty Seats Equals Lost Opportunities; that's the slogan Head Start early education programs all across the nation are trying to make known. In Macy, Nebraska the Omaha Tribe Head Start Program lost 30 children, and three staff members due to the mandatory federal budget cuts. Director Julie Prusa says, 'We had our budget cut 5.275%, we had to make up for that lack of funding somehow, otherwise our program was not going to be able to survive.'" Read more and watch the report Budget Cuts Slash Durham Head Start ProgramDURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA That was the visual presented Monday to symbolize the impact of sequestration on Durham's Early Head Start program and Operation Breakthrough. The seats at the Jim and Carolyn Hunt Child Care Resource Center represented how many students had to be eliminated from the program because of mandated federal budget cuts. Advocates with Durham's Partnership for Children said the empty seats show missed opportunities. 'It means they're not gonna get vision screenings. They're not gonna get nutrition. They're not gonna get early learning experiences. They're not gonna get screened for disabilities or learning readiness. The list goes on,' explained Melissa Mishoe with the Partnership for Children.” Read more and watch the report Empty Chairs Set-Up in Protest of Head Start CutsSPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS What looked like a vacant preschool classroom was set up outside Head Start headquarters in Springfield Monday morning, to protest federal budget cuts. The empty chairs represent the 239 spots that Holyoke Chicopee Springfield Head Start has been forced to eliminate due to the mandatory sequestration budget cuts that went into effect earlier this year. Read more and watch the report |