WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Child Care for Every Family Network raised alarms about the reported Trump administration proposal to completely eliminate funding for Head Start in their fiscal year 2026 budget request. 

Andrea Paluso and Erica Gallegos, Co-Executive Directors of the Child Care for Every Family Network, released the following statement: 

“Last week’s reporting makes crystal clear that the Trump Administration intends to follow the Project 2025 playbook to a tee and eliminate Head Start. It’s appalling. 

“Head Start’s history grew out of the civil rights movement and now serves over 800,000 children and their families–including many families of color and immigrant families. But the Trump Administration wants to eliminate it so they can fund massive tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. Eliminating Head Start is anti-family, plain and simple, and we urge Members of Congress to stand up for their constituents and reject this asinine proposal.”

Head Start originated in the summer of 1965, amidst mass social upheaval and an organized civil rights movement that was determined to ensure economic equality and an end to discrimination for all Americans, especially Black folks. The program has always supported families most harmed by our country’s racist history and lack of social supports, namely folks who are Black, brown, Indigenous, and/or people of color; people with low or no income; and people with a disability or with a child who has a disability. 

The budget proposal follows mass firings at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including from the Administration of Children and Families’ (ACF) Offices of Child Care and Head Start, which help administer child care and Head Start programs throughout the country.

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The Child Care for Every Family Network is the national movement and campaign to transform child care, representing 1,500+ child care providers, impacted families, state and national organizations, and organizers across the country. Learn more: childcareforeveryfamily.org.