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Ely leaders voiced serious concerns Tuesday about the potential loss of the Head Start program in town.
Few details were available as of deadline, but the topic came up as council members gathered for their monthly economic development authority meeting, and passed a motion to send a letter to the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency in “support of the Head Start program and what it means to our community.”
“Whether or not we’re looking at the size of the program or we’re talking about two kids or six kids it’s an important part,” said council member Al Forsman. “And losing Head Start would be a big loss for our community.”
The Head Start program is housed in the Ely schools, but Head Start is a federal program that provides free or low-cost child care to low-income families.
It is operated regionally by the AEOA, and council members said they wanted to make sure the agency knows how important the program is here.
“It’s really important to make sure they know,” said mayor Heidi Omerza. “I understand less is less but sometimes less is more when you look at the case of Ely. There may be no other place for those students to go. That is a really important point to make. Where will they go? I’m not sure. Are there child care centers open? Probably not. Can they stay at home? I’m not sure. I think that’s an important point to make.”
As of deadline, no further informaton was available from the AEOA, but Head Start has captured headlines with reports that a budget proposed by President Trump would eliminate the federal program.
Head Start serves 12,000 children in Minnesota, mostly in rural areas, and has received bipartisan support including that of U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber (R), who last year was part of a group of Republicans to write a letter of support to congressional budget leaders, urging them to prioritize funding for Head Start.
Nationwide, Head Start is funded through Sept. 30, but would expire after that if the Trump budget were to be approved.
At the council table this week, discussion focused on the local level in an effort to reach out to the AEOA.
“To me it seems a lot like the situation we had with senior meals at the senior center, and they saying we were under-utilized, but it was an important part of our community,” said Forsman. “Here in Ely we’ve seen some ups and downs in different age groups as far as population of where the kids are. But there are also some spikes coming up. I think they need to look at more than one year’s attendance and keep the program going in Ely.”
City leaders vowed to take their case to “decision makers” at the AEOA.
“We’ll follow up on that for sure,” said Harold Langowski, the city’s clerk-treasurer and operations director.
For several years, child care has been front and center among the issues prioritized by city leaders.
A lack of affordable and available child care has been viewed as an obstacle on the economic front, and preventing employers from attracting and retaining workers.
