The Sullivan County Head Start served more than 350 children and families and employs 85 full-time and 11 part-time workers. The impact of its closure is a profound burden for my constituents—children without essential services and the daily routines that they need, parents unable to go into work to make a living, and workers left without a job and unable to serve the community that they so deeply care about. The harm is more substantial for children with special needs or in foster care who have to jump through additional hurdles to find the care that they need. Head Start prides itself on providing comprehensive child development services for the community it serves, supporting everyone from children from prenatal to age three, pregnant women and partners, and their families. The services that the Head Start program provide reach far and wide: education, free dental and medical screenings, nutrition, mental health, and family engagement programs. The Head Start programs in Sullivan County are an indispensable foundation of that community’s health and well-being.”

From Senator Schumer’s letter to Secretary Becerra

MONTICELLO, NY — After a two-month absence from Sullivan County, Head Start is coming back.

A temporary provider will reopen Head Start centers in Woodbourne and Monticello on Tuesday, April 9, according to an announcement on Friday from U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro (R, NY-19).

“This was the step I’ve been pushing for alongside our local partners in Sullivan County,” Molinaro said in a statement on Friday. “It will allow us to return children to the Head Start program.”

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D, NY) said the program will be “resuming full operations” when it reopens next week. He said he’d heard from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra that the Early Head Start program, which serves infants and toddlers, will also return next week.

Both federal representatives have been working to get the program back ever since it closed abruptly on February 2. 

A letter Schumer wrote to Secretary Becerra urging quick action on reopening the program says the affected families are struggling: “Sullivan County’s poverty rate is higher than the national and state average. The county is also a recognized childcare desert where affordable and accessible childcare is inaccessible for many who call the area home.”

Schumer and Molinaro gave credit to county officials and other community members for helping families left in the lurch.

“Sullivan County families can finally breathe a sigh of relief with Head Start reopening next week to restore the critically needed childcare services our families in need,” Schumer said in his own statement. “This is a major step forward to helping parents who were forced to scramble for childcare—and faced an impossible situation of choosing between working their job that puts food on the table or having to watch their toddler.”

Bridging the gap

He said his office worked with “dedicated local leaders” determined to restore child care to Sullivan County families.

Because Head Start is a federal program, county officials were under no obligation to help. But its Division of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Child Care Council connected 70 children to speech and physical therapy service and 27 to child care financial assistance, and helped processed applications for 13 employees thrown out of work.

“I am proud of the work that has been done by our county employees to help bridge the gap in services in the meantime and the work by our state and federal partners to get the program back up and running as quickly as possible,” said county legislator Matt McPhillips (D, 1) in a statement. “It is no secret that Sullivan County families rely on the services provided by Head Start, and it is a major relief that they will be available once again.”

The reason for the closure that sent 350 children and their families and 100 employees scrambling is still unclear.

The immediate cause was simple: The program ran out of money. But why the money ran out when the program was financed through late March—with more money lined up beyond that date—isn’t known or hasn’t been made public.

The program is fully financed by the federal government. The first Head Start center opened in 1965 and has expanded steadily since then.

“The fact remains: Sullivan Head Start should have never closed to begin with,” said Molinaro on Friday. “And it’s unnerving that these disruptions to families and staff went on for so long. As the work continues to secure a permanent provider, there will be a simultaneous effort to deliver accountability for the closure.”

Molinaro said he voted last month to increase federal funding for Head Start programs by more than $1 billion in 2024.