In response to Trump and his Project 2025 loyalists forcing Head Start locations to close down, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“Trump said he didn’t know what Project 2025 was, but now he’s writing it into law. Among his first actions as president wasn’t to help families and kids, it was to rip funding away from toddlers in Head Start programs. If Trump and his billionaire education secretary follow through on their threat to defund the Department of Education, he and Republicans across the country will have millions of furious parents to answer to at the ballot box.”

NEW: Head Start locations across the country are being forced to close their doors after Donald Trump and his Project 2025 loyalists froze federal funding last week. 

Lisa Desjardins, PBS News: “NEWS: Funding is shut off for some Head Start programs [in] Washington State and potentially elsewhere.”

Lisa Desjardins, PBS News: “Without a fix soon, he told me, some Head Start programs will have to close for lack of funding for rent, payroll, etc.” 

Arthur Delaney, HuffPost: “New: more than 40 head start providers still unable to draw funds after last weeks’s funding freeze, despite a court order” 

Wisconsin Public Radio: “Half of Wisconsin Head Start programs can’t access needed funds after federal freeze” 

“While the White House publicly rescinded the memo announcing the freeze, nonprofit organizations around the state are reporting they remain locked out of the payment systems that they use to pay staff and keep operations running. …

“Head Start, which supports children up to five years old from low-income families, has approximately 4,500 employees in Wisconsin. …

“That includes Child and Family Centers of Excellence in Waukesha, which closed its doors last week after the freeze was announced. Tim Nolan, who runs the program, told ‘Wisconsin Today’ he received a notice from the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, last Monday, directing the center to shut down by the end of the day on Tuesday. …”

News8 WTNH: “A federal grant of just under $1 million is set to be awarded to the United Way of New Haven for its Early Head Start program. The funds would be used to expand the program to help more families, however, staff said they have not yet seen that money come in. …

“Despite a judge in the nation’s capital keeping a temporary block on President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro said Head Start is still not able to access the funds they were awarded.” 

Trump’s disastrous funding freeze and efforts to cut Head Start are the brainchild of Russ Vought, a “chief architect” of Project 2025. 

Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, pg. 482: “Eliminate the Head Start program.” 

Washington Post: “The White House memo announcing a federal spending freeze, rescinded Wednesday afternoon amid chaos and backlash, was the brainchild of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s pick to direct the Office of Management and Budget. Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff, explained on CNN that Vought felt that the freeze was needed. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her first briefing that Vought asked her to convey that ‘the line to his office is open’ if agency heads ‘feel that programs are necessary.’”

Politico: “The memo, which throws into jeopardy billions of federal assistance for programs like providing school meals and supporting homeless veterans, hews closely to the strategy Trump’s pick for OMB director Russell Vought sketched out for bringing the federal bureaucracy to heel in Project 2025’s second chapter. … 

“While Vought has yet to be confirmed by the Senate, multiple people close to the administration told POLITICO that both he and Trump policy chief Stephen Miller have played key roles in the funding freeze.”

Eliminating funding for Head Start — a popular program that helps nearly a million Americans annually — would wreak havoc on the economy and cost hardworking American families an extra $12,000 a year on child care. 

First Five Years Fund: “Providing greater funding to Head Start and Early Head Start to support families with the greatest needs. – 80% support (including 71% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats)”

Office of Head Start: “Since its inception in 1965, the Head Start program has served about 39 million children and their families.” 

Office of Head Start: “This National Services Snapshot [2023-2024] summarizes key data on demographics and services for children from birth to age five and pregnant women served by Head Start …

“Total cumulative enrollment … 805,660 …  

“Children total cumulative enrollment … 792,147 … 

“Pregnant women total cumulative enrollment … 13,513.” 

CNN: “Nationwide, the average annual cost of care rose to $11,582 per child last year, up 3.7% from the prior year.”