The Shutdown’s Unseen Victims

Although the longest government shutdown in American history is finally over, it will be hard to forget for the frazzled travelers stranded at airports and desperate people waiting in long lines at food banks. Though far less publicized, the same should be said for the shutdown’s impact on Head Start, the federal program that provides free daycare and preschool to low-income families.

Faced with a loss of funding, the program had no choice but to close several locations across 17 states and Puerto Rico. All told, some 65,000 kids, or 10% of all Head Start children, were put at risk because of the shutdown. But — at last count — only about 9,000 children, their parents and, in many cases, their employers were ultimately left in the lurch, according to the National Head Start Association.