This Iowa Head Start program recently reopened after federal funding delay

DAVENPORT — Community Action of Eastern Iowa resumed its Head Start program earlier this month after closing for two months because its funding was delayed as a result of the 43-day federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

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The program hired back 41 child care workers who serve children ages zero to 5 years in Scott, Clinton and Muscatine counties.

Community Action of Eastern Iowa had to close about half its Head Start classrooms Nov. 1 because the federal government shutdown coincided with the renewal of its five-year grant.

The organization applied for the guaranteed grant in August 2025 as is routine, but the funding had not been approved before the government shutdown.

The grant funding is about $4.6 million annually.

Another 155 children in Head Start programs through Community Action of Eastern Iowa continued to be served through that organization’s school partners.

Head Start is an early childhood education program that serves Iowa’s most vulnerable families at no cost. It supported nearly 7,500 Iowa children in fiscal year 2024.

The Gazette spoke with Daniel Sheridan, executive director of Community Action of Eastern Iowa, about reopening classrooms and the impact of being closed for so long.

Q: Two months ago, you had to temporarily close Head Start child care centers because the federal government shutdown delayed funding. What was that decision like?

A: Unfortunately, it was the reality, not so much the decision. We knew without our federal grant, we had no standing to continue to offer programming and no way to reimburse expenses. It was a sobering reality of making plans to move forward to close.

Fifteen days before we closed, we were able to notify staff and families.

The government reopened Nov. 12, but we didn’t receive our notice of award for over two more weeks. We got the notice on Thanksgiving Day, and started to recall staff as soon as we came back from the holiday. Of our 45 employees, 41 returned, so that was helpful.

We reopened Jan. 5, the first Monday of the New Year.

Q: Tell me about the emotions of welcoming back staff and families and reuniting children with their teachers.

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A: When you find a person who can bond with your child — as a parent that is priceless. I had the chance to go around to centers and connect with staff and families before we closed, but during that first week of opening, our staff was so focused. I stayed out of the way. As much as I wanted to insert myself in the joy, I wanted to give them space to have that moment with the kids.

I have heard from staff. The kids are elated. Head Start is consistent, it’s safe, it’s reliable. Kids were excited to see their friends. Nine weeks is a long time. Some were apprehensive at first, but it doesn’t take long to reconnect.

Q: How did the closure impact student development?

A: Head Start is aimed at kindergarten readiness educationally, socially and emotionally. We are certain to have regressions being gone for nine weeks. Two months is a tremendous amount of time in a 2-year-old’s life.

One thing about Head Start is the metrics don’t lie. The impact on the child is sound and proven, and the program continues to enjoy great bipartisan support because it’s results oriented. It’s serving low-income families and keeping kids fed, healthy and cared for.

The next tier is family. That’s why Head Start is so focused on providing supports to help lift and grow families out of poverty and toward a living wage.

Q: Were many of the Head Start classrooms were able to stay open in your partner school districts as you waited for grant funding?

A: Our school-based partnerships were able to continue care … What we lost during that time is the additional resources to families such as health screenings, referrals and support from our team. But about 155 (kids) were able to stay in care, which is great.

Q: What challenges did families face while you were temporarily closed?

A: There were certainly situations where people had to step back from employment or promotions or work less. Not everyone has a pool of resources of friends and family who can pull together for eight weeks.

When the closure started, we surveyed families and were able to connect some of them to child care. In Davenport, Shining Light Learning Center had some emergency slots and we were able to move some families there. We helped other families get child care assistance dollars.

The real trick was no one knew how long (the government shutdown) was going to go.

Q: Have you been able to welcome all families back?

A: Because a few of our staff didn’t come back, a couple classrooms are not open yet. We’re recruiting staff now to get those classrooms back up and running. Simultaneously, we did have some families who are going to stick with the child care they found while we were closed. They have a new normal now, which is totally OK, we just hope those families still have access to those peripheral resources we’re able to bring.

A Head Start classroom was unable to reopen in Muscatine. We’re working on re-staffing out there. There’s an Early Head Start here in the Davenport area as well we’re hiring for.

Q: Now that you’ve received the grant, are you able to provide back pay to staff?

A: The grant doesn’t work that way. If all of our staff were federal employees and the government shut down, a lot of times if you get laid off you receive that back pay. But because it is a grant and we didn’t have funding, staff were essentially terminated.

Grants don’t allow for payment unless you’re providing early care in education. This really impacted our staff hard. We pay competitively, but it’s not a space where anyone’s getting rich. People are in the work because they believe in it and the impact it has.

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