MA Head Start Association & Boston ABCD Celebrate Head Start With a Parade on May 31st

"We need to convince some folks in Washington that our children are as important as air traffic controllers and meat inspectors and that they should seriously consider rescinding this foolish sequester that is causing havoc with the lives of our most underprivileged families," John Drew, President and CEO of Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD).

Two recent articles talk about the negative impacts that the sequestration cuts are taking on Head Start programs across the nation.  

On May 3rd, ABC World News published "Head Start Programs, Forced to Close Early, Still Have Funds for Flights,"  by reporter and blogger, Sarah Parnass.  

In addition, on May 5th, the New York Times printed, "Stories of Struggle and Creativity as Sequestration Cuts Hit Home," by reporter, Jonathan Weisman. 

To celebrate Head Start and protest the sequestration cuts, Massachusetts Head Start programs are planning a large parade on Boston Common at 10:00 am for May 31.  If you have similar events occurring, please let us know so that we can inform people across the country.

Video Script for Impact of Sequestration Cuts

Tell Your Senator/Congress Person 

How Sequestration Funding Cuts Will Impact You! 

1) How to start:

Hi, Senator ____/Congressman _____/ Congresswoman_____,

My name is _______.  I live in _____ (town/city).

Today, I am at (put your organization name here) in (put town/city name here).

When I come here, they help me with _____ (put program or service name here).

2) Tell your story:

Please say what you receive from the organization.

Please say what you like about the organization.

Please say what will happen to you if the organization goes away.

3) How to finish:

Please stop the pain and reverse the sequestration cuts!

Thank you for watching. 

What Sen. Rob Portman's Reversal on Gay Marriage Says about Federal Budget Cuts to CSBG

 By Peter Missouri

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), a staunch opponent of gay marriage rights, announced last week that he's changed his mind on the issue and now believes that, "...if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get married." Why? Because two years ago Senator Portman's son told him that he's gays, so the Midwest conservative suddenly remembered, "…the Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God." Senator Portman also added that Republicans should in fact join him in supporting gay marriage rights since "conservatives believe in personal liberty and minimal government interference in people's lives."

It's natural that our personal experiences shape our values, but a politician shouldn't need to be personally affected by every issue involving individual liberty in order to feel empathy for those that are deprived of this incredible aspect of our Constitution. Individual freedom and the right to pursue happiness constitute the foundation of the American value system and politicians should always aim to afford Americans more freedom and not less. 

What Sen. Portman and his fellow Washington politicians fail to understand is that investing in job creating programs for Americans will downsize government involvement in our society because financial security leads to less people needing welfare programs. The Federal Department of Labor's Workforce Investment Act (WIA), for example, encourages Americans to get better jobs so that they move up the economic ladder beyond minimum wage and contribute as taxpaying members of society.

Unfortunately, for the last 5 years, Washington has done more to reward bad behavior than to encourage patriotic citizenship. They keep cutting the CSBG budget while rewarding businesses that send American jobs to other countries.

CSBGs help millions of American attain their personal freedom by investing in our economy through poverty prevention and education. These issues are vital for economic growth because our consumer economy needs more consumers and less people dependent on safety programs. We need more jobs and less poverty. Most Americans want to contribute to society, but not all have the opportunity to do so. Programs such as Head Start invest in American children so they can be a productive part of society. 

CSBGs create individual freedom so I hope Sen. Portman remembers that during the upcoming budget talks. If that's not enough, then hopefully he'll remember "the Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion." Because no one needs more compassion than the most vulnerable in our society. 

Sequestration – it’s getting personal.

By Roxanne Reddington-Wilde
Action for Boston Community Development

The jokes are more pointed day by day.

Friday, March 1^st: I walk in the door to work. “Well, looks like we’ve a job this morning. Think we will by tonight?” That welcomed me on the first day of sequestration. Or was that me greeting my office mates? A program director came wandering in later, and cracked the same joke. Everyone had the same worry.

In early February, all of us staff at Action for Boston Community Development got termination notices. “Should it become necessary,” ABCD could lay any one off, with no further notice, effective March 1^st and beyond. And so all of us became personally familiar with Sequestration and the Federal Government’s inability to manage its long-term spending wisely.

A couple days ago, a Head Start site director brought by some “Stop Sequestration” petitions parents had been out collecting signatures on and paused to ask, “Do you think we’ll really be cut? When will we know? Parents are asking if we will be here next fall. They don’t want to enroll their kid now if we won’t be around come September.” She runs a single-classroom center. If she loses a critical mass of kids, her doors will shut. And, if people think her doors will shut, they won’t sign up their kids. There goes Head Start for that neighborhood… and everyone’s jobs at that center.

We’ve received lay-off notices before, when Congress contemplated CSBG spending cuts. When this one came, friends on my floor asked me, “how’s this any different?” Oh, it is. This is the law, not some possibility that might be voted in. And March 1^st has come to pass. We were all still employed Friday the 1^st at 5:00 and the anxiety behind the joking subsided a bit. We left with a “see you Monday morning… I think.”

Sunday morning and the Boston Globe ran a big story on “Cost of Sequestration Hits Home in Boston” (3/03/13). “Good,” I thought, “We’re letting everyone know what Massachusetts has to fight for.” Monday morning and I was feeling pretty relaxed, getting ready for work. I glanced at the Globe and saw another front page story, this one on Community Action directors gathering in DC for the NCAF conference and to personally speak to their congressional delegations on sequestration. “Well, that’s a first,” I thought. “NCAF makes the Globe for a yearly shindig in DC. Not bad, another chance to educate people on impacts of any cuts.” I skimmed the article. And there was our CEO, John Drew, mentioning the layoff notices and a new figure for me, saying he was “looking to lay off 100 staff.” My stomach sank. I did the math. We’re a big agency. Still, that comes out to 1 in every 8 staff. I started worrying personally again.

This week the jokes have been, “know where the unemployment office is?” and “So, hope you’ve got some vacation hours saved up.” Some folks are saying, half wistfully, “well, getting laid off would give time to get stuff done ‘round the house.” I’m known around the agency for public benefits advocacy work. A couple came to me and asked how long unemployment benefits run these days. I half jokingly said, “maybe I should book Mass Law Reform Institute to do another “know your unemployment rights” training… and invite all of ABCD.”

I’m proud of the way ABCD has been fighting to stop sequestration. We did a huge rally on February 25^th with five members of our Congressional delegation and some 18 directors of statewide organizations whose services would be affected. All the local TV stations were there. The petitions and letters are pouring in to my department and we’re sending then on to said members of Congress.

At the last Head Start Parent Policy Council meeting, I explained how Sequestration would Head Start and the many other ABCD services. I couldn’t have been more proud when one woman – I don’t know if she was a parent or staff, and it doesn’t matter – said she decided to collect petition signatures on the street, at her local bus stop on the way to work and wherever she found herself. One man didn’t want to sign. She asked him what his mother would do if Meals on Wheels stopped bring her food. He signed.

The early-warning, lay-off notices were a wise move on ABCD’s part. The agency needs to be flexible so we can best preserve services for the many people of Boston and beyond who need fuel assistance, job training, Head Start, help applying for food stamps, ESOL and citizenship services if they are going to survive and make their way in a economy turned against them. But it feels like the government has turned against all of us.

Roxanne Reddington-Wilde has been a Community Planner at Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. since the August, 1996 week President Clinton signed Welfare Reform into existence and ABCD asked her to pull together a community conference on how that government action would affect the real lives of real human beings.

ABCD Calls for Congress to STOP SEQUESTRATION

Says automatic, mindless cuts are “dangerous and irresponsible”

ABCD President/CEO John Drew today asked Congress to act quickly to repeal the reckless legislation - the Budget Control Act of 2011 - that is putting America on the path of sequestration cuts totaling $1.2 trillion over ten years with no regard to the programs and people - both domestic and military - that those cuts will harm.

"This is the most dangerous and irresponsible piece of legislation I have ever seen," said Drew.

Drew said the mindless and extreme budget reductions due to kick in on March 1 will cause 70,000 low-income children to be cut from Head Start early care and education programs. Also facing drastic cuts are Meals on Wheels for seniors, food and drug safety interventions, medical research, air traffic control, housing and homelessness prevention programs and more. The nation's military effectiveness will be dangerously reduced.

"Sequestration will put our most vulnerable citizens at risk," he said. "These are people who did nothing to cause the nation's current fiscal issues. Why should they suffer? Why should strong, solid programs that lift poor people up and provide opportunities for children, adolescents and adults to improve their lives and give back to their communities be devastated? Why should frail seniors lose the supports that enable them to live in dignity in their later years?".

Drew called on Congress and the President to develop a long-term debt reduction plan with entitlement cuts and tax reform that increases revenue. "Debt reduction should NOT increase poverty or exacerbate hardship for families struggling to make ends meet," he said.

He also pointed out that the cuts will cost tax payers far more down the line. "More people will fall into homelessness, costing government huge amounts to house them in shelters and motels. Children may do poorly in school, without the early education and care that puts them on the road to success. Seniors will go without heat and food and fill our emergency rooms. These cuts reflect backward thinking of the worst kind."

Following are examples of the devastation the cuts will wreak on struggling families and all Americans in just the first year of implementation. If the cuts continue over 10 years, as planned, these programs will be eliminated or severely jeopardized.

• Head Start: 70,000 fewer poor children will receive comprehensive early childhood education services in Head Start, the program applauded as a pathway to a better life for low-income children and their parents;
• Senior Nutrition: 17 million fewer meals will be delivered to low-income seniors;
• Fuel Assistance: 1,332,000 households will lose Fuel Assistance, leaving seniors to choose between heat, food and medicine and young families to shiver before dangerous space heaters;
• Housing and Homelessness: 3,017,226 families will lose Section 8 housing. Public Housing Authorities will have funding cut with deterioration of housing developments. Many families - already on the edge economically - will be homeless and on the street.
• Women's Health: Hundreds of thousands of low-income women will lose essential health maintenance and illness prevention services that keep them healthy and save tax payer' money. Breast cancer screening, HIV testing and much more will be lost.
• Medical research will be cut - condemning people to disease and loss of essential treatment;
• Coast Guard air and surface rescues will be reduced by 25 percent.
• Embassy security, in the wake of the horror at Benghazi, would absorb a cut of $168 million.
• Federal aid to states and cities will be reduced, severely impacting schools and services;
• Environmental protections and food inspection will be cut back;
• Air traffic controllers will be laid off, making the skies far less friendly for all of us.
• AND MUCH MORE...

Send Email to Stop Sequestration

This post is from our friends at Coalition for Human Needs.  In addition to signing the STOP THE SEQUESTRATION petition, please see below to email your Members of Congress and Senators!

On March 1, new federal cuts will begin to take effect.  If nothing is done, many hundreds of thousands more will be hurt by across-the-board cuts to education, job training, home heating assistance, public health, and social services, to name only a few areas.  One example:  450,000 600,000 young children and moms will lose WIC nutrition aid, even though we know WIC is associated with better child health and development.  Other examples of the impact of cuts are in this White House press release.  Such as:  70,000 children won't be in Head Start; 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and children will go without treatment.

Tell Congress to do the right thing and stop mindless, harmful cuts.  

Your voice is needed. Click here for a simple way to be heard.

Remember the new year's fiscal showdown?  Congress acted at the last minute to replace two months of these cuts with a combination of revenues and other spending reductions.  That's why we're now facing the March 1 deadline.

Stark Choices. The President and Senate leadership want new revenues from corporations and wealthy individuals to play a big part in replacing the mindless cuts.  They - and we - don't want to substitute other harmful cuts to Medicaid, SNAP/food stamps, or other vital programs.  To those in Congress who say "no more revenues," we must ask "Is protecting every single tax loophole that benefits corporations and high-income individuals a higher priority than preventing cuts that will affect health, education and job opportunities for millions of Americans?" 

To those who would protect every Pentagon program, we must ask "Would you keep funding costly and outdated weapons and equipment while cutting job training, housing, college aid, and child welfare or mental health services?" 

The public made clear in November and beyond that they believed people at the top should pay more of their share to resolve the nation's fiscal problems.  Because public opinion was so strong, Congress increased revenues.  That public will is still there - a new poll commissioned by Americans for Tax Fairness shows two-thirds of voters say the richest two percent and large corporations should pay more in taxes, and oppose cuts in vital programs.

You can show that constituents not only hold those beliefs, but will tell Congress about them.  Just send this email to your senators and rep - not a heavy lift, but pretty important!

Thanks so much.

Sequestration Begins March 1, 2013

John J. Drew, President/CEO,
Action for Boston Community Development

We all breathed a sigh of relief when the U.S. Congress passed The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 on January 1, 2013, and immediate “sequestration” budget cuts were avoided. But that relief was short-lived.

Now community action—and many other federally-supported programs—once again face the threat on March 1 of $110 billion in automatic budget cuts per year over ten years, or “sequestration.” (The January 1 “fiscal cliff” deal pushed this deadline ahead from the original January 2 date.)

If Congress and the administration do not find a way to avoid sequestration, immediate, automatic cuts to our programs will take place. The government talks about 5.1 percent budget reductions for this current fiscal year, which will be squeezed and magnified into the remaining 7 months. Then, for each of the 9 more years, these indiscriminate, across-the-board, cuts will continue until $1.1 trillion is slashed from the federal budget.

This cut will apply to the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), Head Start, Fuel Assistance, Child Care, Housing, Health Services and many other interconnected programs and services that we provide. This type of government by automatic pilot is dangerous, especially to the most vulnerable in our nation.

Elected officials need to go on the record if they choose to remove poor children from Head Start programs, if they decide that elders must go without heat in the winter, if they make decisions that cause people to go hungry or fall into homelessness. They need to take responsibility for their decisions. The automatic cuts poised to fall on the most vulnerable in our far less than equal society will decimate those already 50 yards behind who are hurting and hungry and homeless through no fault of their own.

Right now the March 1 cuts are real and automatic and will take an enormous toll on the lives of the people served by community action programs in Massachusetts and across the nation. The cumulative effect is that millions of households will be devastated. The safety net that protects so many Americans will be destroyed, along with opportunities to move up the ladder of economic opportunity and pursue the American dream.

Community action and non-profit programs are not the only ones to suffer if these cuts take place. Medical research, air traffic control, food inspection, environmental protection and the national infrastructure of highways and bridges are just a few of the key programs and institutions that will experience huge losses.

We continue our strong advocacy for the people we serve and for the economic policies that will enable their lives to improve and our important work to continue. We must do all that we can to push the government to swerve again from the fiscal cliff and avoid terrible pain for people across the nation, especially those in need.