Head Start child care program for low-income families closes temporarily due to government shutdown

A federally funded child care program run by Encompass Community Services is temporarily closed down starting this week due to the government shutdown, sending the families of about 250 children searching for providers and 91 staff looking for jobs and filing for unemployment. 

Head Start stopped providing child care and its range of services on Wednesday, and Friday was the last day on the job for staff. Since 1983, Encompass has run the program, which offers free bilingual early learning to hundreds of infants and children up to age 5, as well as developmental screening, meals and family support services. 

Suzanna Lopez, a teacher director with Head Start for nine years, said she’s heartbroken for the affected families and stressed thinking about how she’ll cover expenses for her own family. She’s filing for unemployment. 

“I don’t know how I’m going to pay rent next month, pay my bills, pay my student loans,” she said, crying. “This program has been running in the community for so long. There’s never been anything like this. There’s been layoffs, furloughs, but there’s never been like this – the whole program is being shut down.” 

Encompass Community Services received support last month to stay open through October, but with the government shutdown dragging on with no end in sight, interim CEO Kim Morrison said it was forced to close down for the time being. The program was meant to start the third year of a five-year federal contract on Saturday – Nov. 1, when it annually receives a notice of award and can start billing and receiving federal dollars. But with the shutdown and the Head Start offices closed, Morrison said they won’t be receiving their notice of award and funding and have to stop operations. 

“It’s really big, it’s really heartbreaking, and it’s really difficult to see,” she said. “Our goal is to just reopen as soon as we can.”

Morrison said once the shutdown ends and Encompass can receive its award and funding, Head Start can reopen and it will call back the 91 staff members to ask if they would like to return to their jobs. 

She said Encompass has been working with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, Pajaro Valley Unified School District, state legislators and the California departments of Social Services and Education for potential solutions during the government shutdown. The nonprofit has come up with one temporary way to help the preschool-aged students in the Watsonville area and is still working to find options for families in North County and Mid-County. Morrison said most of the children in Head Start are from South County, but she didn’t have exact numbers Friday. 

For Watsonville-area families with preschool-aged children, Encompass is connecting those families with PVUSD to enroll them in its preschools. For infants and toddlers, PVUSD will care for those children at the Watsonville Children’s Center. Morrison said it’s not yet clear how many families will sign up for that. The students will continue to be enrolled in Head Start even if they enroll in the PVUSD preschool program or at the Watsonville Children’s Center. 

She said some staff, although it’s also not yet clear how many, are applying to work in the school district as well. 

Morrison said all staff will be welcome to return to Encompass but she understands that some people could choose to remain in jobs they’ve found during the shutdown. 

“So they also have a choice if they choose to go work there, it may not be temporary, they may decide to stay there,” she said. “They have choices in this.” 

She said no Head Start money is going to PVUSD and the school district isn’t running a Head Start program. 

Morrison said not all Head Start programs across the country are shuttering right now as in Santa Cruz County, as other programs have different start dates for their annual contracts and they have remaining current awards. 

She said maybe two other programs in California also have Nov. 1 starts and are also facing closure, and about 140 programs across the country have October or November start dates and also don’t have funding. Morrison said those closures are affecting about 60,000 children and families and about 20,000 teachers and employers. 

“We’ve been working really closely with the National Head Start Association and California Head Start to work through this,” she said. “To make sure that the way that we handle it is the best way we can in order to help us reopen as soon as we can.”

On Thursday afternoon, more than 10 Head Start staff protested outside the Encompass offices on Encinal Street in Santa Cruz, demanding that Encompass staff meet with them to discuss the layoffs and partnership with PVUSD in more detail. They argue that by transferring students and staff to the district, Encompass is violating federal guidance for Head Start programming and their employment contract. 

Morrison said Encompass consulted with state officials and the National Head Start Association, among others, and ensured their partnership with PVUSD is a viable option. 

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