April 25, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: As a community member and executive director of the Yellow Brick Road Early Learning Center, I am deeply concerned about the proposed elimination of federal funding for Head Start and Early Head Start programs — a move that would have devastating consequences for our families, our economy, and our children’s futures.
Yellow Brick Road, which operates on a sliding scale to serve families of all income levels, is able to offer an Early Head Start classroom for 13 children thanks to a partnership with Head Start. This funding doesn’t just provide critical early care and education for low-income families — it also supports facility improvements, such as our playground upgrade, that benefit every child in our center.
Rockbridge County is already designated a childcare desert, with far too few licensed childcare spots for the more than 5,700 children in our community. Waitlists are long, and infant care is especially scarce. Without programs like Head Start, many parents would be unable to work, and our local economy would suffer as businesses struggle to hire and retain staff due to lack of childcare options. Head Start is more than just preschool — it provides nutritious meals, health and dental screenings, and connects families to vital resources and support.
If the proposed cuts go through, nearly 800,000 children nationwide — including thousands in Virginia — would lose access to early learning, meals, and health screenings. In rural areas like ours, in which the recent Rockbridge Area Childcare Needs Assessment identified a childcare crisis, the loss would be catastrophic. For Rockbridge County, it would mean the loss of the only affordable, high-quality care available to many families, putting children at risk of falling behind before they even reach kindergarten.
I urge our community to speak up and let our elected officials know that Head Start is not expendable. Eliminating it would be an irreversible setback for our children, our workforce, and our community as a whole. MISTY CAMDEN Executive Director, YBR
