Letter to the Editor
Altoona Mirror, Friday October 20, 2017 Edition
As Head Start parents here in Blair County, we were honored and energized to meet with staff of local senators and representatives of Pennsylvania while in Washington, D.C., for the National Head Start Association Fall Leadership Institute to discuss the need for robust funding for Head Start programs throughout the country.
While in Washington, we joined 1,000 Head Start families, alumni and staff from almost all 50 states at a Capitol Hill rally calling on Congress, with one voice, to allocate strong funding for Head Start.
With the Capitol Dome in view, we raised our voices to call attention to the importance of early childhood education, not only for our children, but for all children.
When we met with representatives for Sen. Patrick Toomey, Sen. Robert Casey and Rep. Bill Shuster, we spoke not only about our personal journey through Blair County Head Start but also the impact this program has for local families beyond educational opportunities. For each legislator, we specifically focused on parts of the program that targeted their values. Points provided included but were not limited to job growth, resources utilized like our family and community partnerships, educational statistics related to the developmental growth of children ages 3 to 5 currently involved in the program, impacts of positive implementations of health and wellness initiatives, and how direct financial support, like theirs, affects the programs’ ability to serve the community.
Continuously reinforced within these meetings was that Head Start works and really does give our local children an advantage during the transition to kindergarten programs. Beyond that, it works for us as parents, too. It empowers mothers like us to know the community resources, creates opportunistic quality time with our children and encourages our commitment to the future excellence of our youth. Through usage of concrete facts and statistics aided by our personal stories, we emphasized that the children of Blair County are far too important for our leaders to be tightfisted with their future.
Now is the time for Washington to step up and step in on behalf of our most vulnerable early learners.
Every eligible child deserves the Head Start advantage.
Candace McQuillen, Casey Croft and Rachel Wilt
Child Advocates of Blair County
