From KCTV5 10/17/2025
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Nearly 2,300 Kansas City children are the latest at risk in the government shutdown.
Head Start, a federally funded program, is on the chopping block in Jackson, Clay, and Platte counties.
Head Start promotes school readiness via complementary early learning, health, nutrition, and family support services to low-income children from birth to age five. Eligibility is primarily based on income, but children in foster care, who are homeless, or whose families receive public assistance, qualify.
Among Kansas City’s Head Start parents, 1,351 are employed, 169 are in training programs, and 168 are enrolled in school.
October 17, Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) announced 17 Head Start sites in the Kansas City area, serving 2,300 children and their families, will close on November 1 unless the federal government reopens. The shutdown would also adversely affect 500 Head Start employees in Kansas City.
Read more: https://www.kctv5.com/2025/10/17/cruel-families-2300-vulnerable-kansas-city-children-families-risk-amid-government-shutdown/