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This maybe an important to understanding Illinois news in the coming days.
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Head Start is it open or not? And for how long?
Now-rescinded Trump federal grant freeze causes chaos for childcare programs
Northern Public Radio | By Peter Medlin
Published January 29, 2025 at 4:52 PM CST
Peter Medlin
Kids at Taylor's Tots in Rockford
On Tuesday, the Trump administration’s broad freeze on federal grants caused chaos for northern Illinois child care providers and families.
Two Rivers Head Start operates child care programs in Aurora, Elgin, and Sycamore. Executive director Kelly Neidel had to tell her staff they’d been laid off, and had to tell her 200-plus families that their services were shutting down.
“It's affecting so many people, it's literally just heartbreaking,” she said.
A few hours later, a federal judge stopped the freeze. Neidel then had to backtrack and tell everyone they were staying open. The administration has since rescinded the freeze.
She says the situation caused a lot of undue stress for their low-income families who had to spend the afternoon scrambling to find new childcare. And even though they’ve had some reassurances that they shouldn’t be impacted by the freeze, it’s difficult for staff to believe their jobs are totally safe.
Neidel says they’ve also briefly lost access to their Community Services Block Grant which helped fund food pantries, assisting families in crisis with rental assistance or car repairs, a senior food and clothing initiative and more. Now, they can draw down on those funds again.
She says they conduct federal audits every year, so she doesn’t buy that there’s any waste in the program.
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Peter joins WNIJ as a graduate of North Central College. He is a native of Sandwich, Illinois.
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