September 2013
Event Highlights the Painful Cost of
Federal Budget Cuts to our Community
All six of Astor’s Head Start Programs participated in the Empty Chair = Lost Opportunities event on Monday, September 9, 2013 at 2:00 PM, by displaying empty seats outside their buildings. The chairs represented the 86 slots that were cut in our Head Start and Early Head Start Programs in Dutchess County due to budget cuts forced by Congressional inaction.
Parents, legislators (State Senator Terry Gipson and Assemblyman Frank Skartados), staff, community partners and volunteers were on hand to take part in this effort to call attention to the tens of thousands of children who have been cut from Head Start and Early Head Start Programs nationwide due to sequestration.
State Senator Terry Gipson and Assemblyman Frank Skartados both showed support in presentations but it was three parents, who spoke on the impact the cuts have had on them, who best voiced what we have lost. One family explained that their child can no longer attend Head Start because transportation was cut from the budget and they do not have a car to transport their child. The family counted on the two meals per day their child received.
According to Mary Sontheimer, Assistant Executive Director, Astor’s Early Childhood Programs,
In Dutchess County, this loss resulted in a $340,000 reduction in funding, which means that 86 youngsters in the county will no longer be receiving services at our Head Start and Early Head Start Centers. Funding remains for only 563 children. We also lost 22 staff positions.
Sontheimer goes on to say:
the cuts came when a deadline for adopting the federal budget passed last April, triggering so-called “sequester” reductions for various federal programs, including Head Start and Early Head Start.
Along with the Neighborhood News video coverage (top), the event on Monday drew press coverage including these stories in:
The Poughkeepsie Journal, September 10, 2013
The Poughkeepsie Journal, September 9, 2013
New York Nonprofit Press, September 9, 2013
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