How Federal Funding Disruption Is Impacting Community Health and Head Start Services
Ask students: Who are some of the people who have had difficulty accessing promised federal funds? What is Head Start, and what role does it serve in communities?
A broad federal funding freeze announced by the Trump administration in late January, and blocked by a pair of judges, is destabilizing a wide range of programs despite the court interventions. Some Community Health and Head Start programs have sporadically been blocked from funding, forcing some to shut down.
View the transcript of the story.
Key Terms
Funding freeze — a policy that stops scheduled payments
Head Start — a federally funded preschool program for low-income families
Discussion Questions
- Who are some of the people who have had difficulty accessing promised federal funds?
- What is Head Start, and what role does it serve in communities?
- How many people does Head Start serve?
- Where did a community health center have to close because they couldn't access federal funds?
- Why does Health and Human Services (a department of the federal government) say that some organizations may have had trouble with accessing payments?
Focus Questions
- What impact do you think uncertainty about federal payments will have on community programs?
- Were you surprised to learn how local governments like towns, cities and counties rely on federal funding to maintain community services, like health clinics and preschool programs? Why or why not?
- Media literacy: How do you think a federal funding freeze would impact your community? How could you find out?
Extension Activity
Off-and-on payment freezes to community organizations, such as those mentioned in this segment, are a result of sweeping changes the Trump administration hopes to make to the federal government. These include ending or radically transforming whole departments and programs established by Congress, such as USAID.
What power does the executive branch have to completely stop spending on programs established by Congress? That question is being played out in courts in the early days of the second Trump administration.
Watch the video below and discuss — whether the executive branch should have the power to end spending programs without new legislation being passed by Congress.
Republished with permission from PBS NewsHour Classroom.
PBS News Hour Classroom helps teachers and students identify the who, what, where and why-it-matters of the major national and international news stories. The site combines the best of News Hour's reliable, trustworthy news program with lesson plans developed specifically for... See More
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