Head Start and Social Safety Net Programs
Last updated: 05/13/2025

Head Start Resources

Join the Head Start Communications Network

Immediate Action Items

• Sign the National Head Start Association's letter to Congress to protect Head Start
• Sign the alumni/parent letter to the President to protect Head Start
• 5 ways to take action with your member of Congress
• Find your member of Congress
• Tell your story of how you have been impacted by Head Start
• Submit your story to Head Start CA (English)
• Submit your story to Head Start CA (Spanish)
• Need help crafting your story?
• Get inspired! See sample stories here.
• Get advice! Watch Head Start CA's free storytelling workshop.
• Get writing! With a handy checklist in English or Spanish.
• Post on social media using the hashtags #HeadStartWorks, #ProtectHeadStart, and #HeadStartMatters
• Tag your members of Congress and Head Start CA

Resources, Reports, and Factsheets:

• Senator Limón Co-Leads Bipartisan Coalition to Urge Congress to Protect Head Start Program
• Head Start California Factsheet
• Head Start State Factsheets
• First Five Years Fund - Protect Head Start Toolkit
• Fight 4 Head Start Toolkit, Surveys, and Office Hours
• CLASP Blog - Federal Cuts to Child Care and Head Start are an Attack on Families with Low Incomes

Social Safety Net Programs

Immediate Action Items

• NEW FFYF 5 Actions to Take
• Sign-on Letter to Save SNAP & Federal Anti-Poverty Programs to Rep. Valadao
• The Children's Partnership Medi-Cal/Medicaid Action Center
• Tell your story of how social services programs have impacted you
• From CCRC: Help us gather stories about the positive impact in your family or program from receiving services through Covered California or MediCal (Medicaid), SNAP, Head Start and Subsidized child care. CCRC is collecting stories and working to create videos to share the positive impact these public investments have on the lives of California Families. You can either be a current program participant or an alumnus of the services. You can find the submission form at this link: https://ccrc.to/headstartworks

Resources, Reports, and Factsheets:

• NEW CalBudget Center: Federal Budget Cuts: Understanding Threats, Protecting Californians Slides 05/12
• Medicaid Defense Social Media Toolkit
• Families USA Defending Medicaid Resources Page
• Medi-Cal: The Foundation of California Kids’ Health & a Bedrock of Our State Economy (includes enrollment by county data)
• Medicaid is Vital  to California Factsheet
• More Than Half of California’s Children from Birth to Five Rely on Medi-Cal - Shows # of children on Medi-Cal in each county
• Threatened Changes to Medicaid and IDEA Could Impact Developmental Supports for Young Children in California
• Letter to Republican Leadership Against Medicaid Cuts from Rep Congressional Delegates 04/14/2025
• How Republican-Led Budget Cuts Could Impact Californians in Every Congressional District - Cal Budget Center 04/2025 
• Two California Families, Two Futures: The Real Cost of Federal Budget Cuts - Cal Budget Center 04/2025 
• Massachusetts Congressional Delegation Letter Against SNAP Cuts from the State Chamber of Commerce 04/01/2025
• CA Senate Joint Resolution against cuts to SNAP SJR 3 (Arreguin, Pierson) 03/27/2025 
• Paperwork Over People: Why Republican “Work Requirements” Fail Families 03/2025
• National letter against social safety net program cuts to U.S. Congress leadership 02/25/2025

Updates:

• Actress Jennifer Garner lobbies Congress to save Head Start program  05/05/2025
• Associated Press: Head Start survives Trump administration budget proposal. 05/02/2025
• President Trump - Fiscal Year 2026 Discretionary Budget Request
• ACLU Sues to Halt Trump Administration Attacks on Head Start Child Care Program - LA Times 04/29/2025
• Complaint Head Start Associations, Parent groups v HHS - ACLU 04/28/2025
• Parent Advocacy Groups and a Coalition of Head Start Providers File Lawsuit to Stop Trump Administration’s Dismantling of Head Start - ACLU 04/28/2025
• With Head Start in jeopardy, Trump administration threatens child care for 800,000 kids - LA Times 04/23/2025
• The Trump administration is remaking HHS. Track the changes here.- BioPharmDrive 04/22/2025
• Scoop: Leaked PDF outlines major HHS restructuring proposal (authenticity now confirmed). "The safety nets are being blown up right and left." - Inside Medicine 04/16/2025 
• Head Start funding lags by nearly $1 billion this year, causing some preschool closures - Associated Press 04/15/2025
• Padilla Cosponsors Legislation to Improve Access to Quality, Affordable Child Care for American Families - Public.04/04/2025
• Head Start Regional Office Closures: A Call for Action to Safeguard Head Start - HeadStart CA 04/04/2025
• Padilla, Luján, Warnock Lead Group Demanding Reversal of Mass Firings of Head Start, ­Office of Child Care Employees - Office of Senator Alex Padilla 04/02/2025
• NHSA Expresses Deep Concern Over Administration Shuttering Regional Offices - National Association of HeadStart 04/01/2025
• HHS Announcement of Restructuring and 10,000 Laid Off - HHS.Gov 04/01/2025
• Head Start child-care centers face pay delays after Trump’s federal funding freeze LA Times 02/07/2025
• Trump White House rescinds order freezing federal grants after widespread confusion - LA Times 01/29/2025