For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Early child care educators and advocates today tried to image the scariest part of Halloween 2025, alternating between the government shutdown, the potential loss of SNAP benefits as well as possible Head Start cuts. Even before the shutdown, many families were tinkering on the brink of disaster. Many have yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Early childhood education advocates issued the following statement:
“Ninety percent of the families in our community are in distress,” said Ifrah Nur of Kids Count on Us in Minnesota. “They struggle every day just to meet their basic needs and are on the verge of losing their homes. The income they earn barely covers rent — just enough to keep a roof over their heads. If food assistance (SNAP) is taken away, I don’t know what will happen. Not being able to feed their children would create unimaginable hardship.”
“One parent told me her entire paycheck goes toward rent. After that, she has only $100 left, which must cover utilities,” Nur continued. “She’s a mother of four, without a car, and she can’t afford clothes or shoes for her children. She said, “If I don’t get food benefits this month, I’ll have to use my rent money to buy food. And if I do that, I’ll lose my home.” This is not okay. Families who already have nothing are being punished while those with wealth lose nothing during a government shutdown. The system must protect the most vulnerable — not take away the little support they have left.”
“The people we work with in Georgia will feel real, tangible, deep cuts of not only the government shutdown but proposed budget cuts,” said Erin Clark, an organizer with 9to5 Georgia. “We are seeing that many Head Start programs will face dire circumstances come November 1 when over 140 programs will not receive funding if the government shutdown continues. Not being able to access child care or Head Start programs will impact parents’ ability to go to work and to continue contributing to their workplaces.”
According to the First Five Years Fund, one in three child care providers is facing food insecurity. Losing access to SNAP will have massive ripple effects on the child care industry, both for families and for providers. Reports indicate that than 40 million Americans may go hungry due to a loss of SNAP benefits.
“We know that early childhood educators in Georgia largely rely on programs like SNAP, so we are going to see big impacts not just on families but also for our early childhood educators,” said Clark. “There are a number of providers who will pay from their own pockets to help subsidize child care for parents who may not be able to pay that child care bill week-to-week because they feel very deeply for these experiences that parents are going through. This government shutdown is just highlighting the continued need for long-term investment in child care so that our providers are able to respond to these moments and are better funded.”
“Hearing that families might not have access to food subsidies, means that we must figure out how we can support them,” said Tarrezz Thompson, an Ohio child care provider and advocate with The CEO Project. “We don’t want parents in a position where they’re having to make difficult choices [about how to eat].”
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