When an early draft of President Trump's budget proposal threatened to defund the Head Start program that helps support nearly 800,000 children and their families nationwide, advocates like Jennifer Garner leapt into action.
“There’s nothing more optimistic than reaching a kid when they’re young,” Garner said to 온라인카지노사이트 correspondent Jacob Soboroff.
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WATCH HEREIn fact, was one of the kids who grew up with support from a Head Start program.
“I’m a Head Start kid,” Craig told Jacob. “Before preschool I went to Head Start, Head Start summer camps, family members have gone through Head Start. I don’t think a lot of people fully appreciate how much of a head start it actually gives kids who were born in circumstances that are far beyond their control.”
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SIGN UP Garner has been a board member of Save the Children, which sponsors nine Head Start locations, since 2014. She and Jacob toured a Head Start facility in Concord, North Carolina, that serves over 100 children and families with programs like free early childhood education. It also provides mental health services and meals for children who may otherwise not have reliable access to food.
“We think of childcare as graham crackers and a nap and a wipe (of) the nose,” said Garner. “That is not what we’re talking about here. These teachers, these professionals, these educators, they are brain architects. They are training these brains to become learners.”
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“It doesn’t feel like a school,” Jacob commented. “It feels like a place where these kids are loved.”
Jacob also spoke with two sets of parents who currently enroll their kids in Head Start programming.
When Malik and Jazmond Vandiver sent their young sons to Head Start, they realized that it didn't only help their boys — it also helped them.
“They’re very focused on developing yourself as an individual so you can be a better parent,” said Jazmond.
Dasha Drake, whose three kids attend Head Start, is also a teacher in the program.
She said that without Head Start, “I wouldn’t have a job, so that affects us financially. My children wouldn’t be at the centers of the three meals a day here. It’d put us in a bind, for sure.”
Though the administration's updated budget maintains Head Start funding, advocates like Garner aren't finished reminding Congress — and the public — how critical these programs are.
“Kids in rural America are struggling,” said Garner, pointing out that the majority of exist in rural areas. She wants lawmakers to “remember our rural communities, and to remember the rural children who do not have a voice.”
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