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(SACRAMENTO) –Today, Senator Monique Limón joined Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens (D- Silicon Valley), a coalition of bipartisan legislators, and concerned Head Start parents at a press conference to urge the California Congressional Delegation to protect Head Start. This show of bipartisanship comes as recent reports have indicated that the federal government may move to eliminate Head Start entirely.
Statewide, California received $1.5 billion to support children ages 3 to 5, providing quality early education, nutritious meals, and family engagement to thousands of children across the state. In Senate District 21, Head Start serves over 7,000 children at multiple campuses across Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties, promoting school readiness for the community’s most vulnerable.
“Head Start is an affordable, high-quality program that working families rely on. With 60% of California families living in child care deserts, we need not only to protect Head Start from cuts, but expand its reach so that we can set more of our youngest Californians on the road to success,” said Senator Monique Limón.
“Growing up in a working poor family, I graduated from a Head Start program as a child and consider myself a fortunate beneficiary of the program’s investments in early childhood learning. Head Start provides critical early learning, health services, and childcare options to support the most disadvantaged families, allowing parents to work and their children to thrive. I am thankful to all of my colleagues for standing with me to let our congressional delegation know they must protect Head Start programs for all,” said Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens.
Earlier this week, Senator Limón championed a bipartisan letter from the California State Senate to California’s Congressional Delegation. The letter not only urges them to reject any proposal to eliminate Head Start programs that serve over 85,000 California children, but to also preserve and grow federal investments in early learning and care investments. The letter was signed by thirty two senators from as far north as Siskiyou County and as far south as San Diego County. Combined with the letter championed by Assemblymember Ahrens, three-fourths of the legislature has supported this request.
The press conference in its entirety can be found here.
