National Head Start Association

National Head Start Association Comments on

Elevated Debt Ceiling and Billions in Federal Spending Cuts

Washington, D.C. - Today the President signed legislation raising the nation's debt ceiling through the end of 2012 and cutting government spending by billions of dollars. The impact of the more than $900 billion in federal spending cuts over the next decade could alter the life course of one million vulnerable children currently being served by Head Start and Early Head Start.

The following statement should be attributed to Yasmina Vinci, Executive Director of the National Head Start Association:

"While we are pleased that our elected officials found their way to common ground to preserve and protect the financial solvency of the nation's economy, we are concerned about how the devastating spending cuts will affect Head Start children and families. As Congress moves into the appropriations process, we urge our leaders to maintain Head Start funding for the children currently served. Decision makers must not only have the integrity to protect and preserve past obligations, as they have demonstrated by this compromise, but they also must have the foresight to make wise, long-term investments in our future - a robust future made stronger by the window of opportunity that Head Start offers to our nation's most vulnerable children."

Yasmina Vinci, Executive Director of the National Head Start Association (www.nhsa.org), was the first Executive Director of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), has held leadership positions in local, state and national early childhood education organizations and serves on a number of governing Boards of national and local organizations.

Additional information about the National Head Start Association can be found at www.nhsa.org

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