CONNOR HENRICKSEN: A Head Start program in Walla Walla recently worried it might have to close. It has since received a federal grant of over a million dollars to continue operating through December. But the lack of stable federal funding has caused problems in staffing and enrollment. N-W-P-B’s Erick Bengel reports.

ERICK BENGEL: Normally, Walla Walla Public Schools applies for a five-year federal grant to fund its Head Start program. After the Trump administration took office, the process changed. This last school year was funded with an extension grant. As that money was about to run out, the program learned it would receive an interim grant, but only for six months.

BRENT CUMMINGS: “...And so, when families call into our center and say, ‘Are you gonna have a program next year? We’ve been hearing that there might not be a Head Start program’ … we can’t give them an honest answer yet to say, ‘Yes, we know for sure that we’d have a program.”
 BENGEL: That’s Brent Cummings, the community outreach and partnerships coordinator for Walla Walla Public Schools. He says the uncertainty also led to the loss of four teaching assistants. The school district is looking to replace them. 
In Walla Walla, I’m Erick Bengel.