Head Start closures leave hundreds without child care

Hundreds of Santa Cruz County families scrambling for child care arrangements are serving as a warning for what may come as the ongoing federal government shutdown puts more Head Start centers at risk for closure.

As CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones explains, Encompass Community Services closed all its 11 Head Start centers last week because no staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was available to process the nonprofit’s Nov. 1 grant renewal or send money. The centers serve some of the lowest-income families in the Watsonville farmland region and enroll about 300 students.

Though Encompass is partnering with Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Watsonville to temporarily provide child care to families enrolled in Head Start this week, the future of the $9-million-a-year program remains uncertain.

Three more Head Start programs in Los Angeles, the Central Valley and the northern part of California also have Nov. 1 grant deadlines and face imminent closure — likely affecting a total of 1,000 very-low-income children and 270 teachers. Four programs with Dec. 1 deadlines could also close if the shutdown continues. 

• Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California: “Losing a Head Start program has detrimental effects not just on children and families, but also has immense ripple effects on the community. Head Start is far more than a safe place for children to learn and grow — it’s a community hub. … The negative effect on regional employment and the local economy would be felt many times over.”

If Congress reaches an agreement to end the shutdown this week, it could still take up to six weeks for the money to reach Head Start centers. Encompass is currently in talks with state and local agencies for a contingency funding plan.

• Kim Morrison, interim executive director of Encompass: “We’re trying to roll with the punches and just focus on serving our families. Head Start is a big, national program. We just can’t imagine a world where it doesn’t exist.”

Read more here.

Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino has emerged as one of the central figures in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. 

CalMatters reporters have been on the ground covering the raids since they started, weeks before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, in Kern County. Now we’ve teamed up with Latino USA to tell the story of Bovino and the aggressive immigration raids he’s leading in California and beyond.

CalMatters’ Sergio Olmos and Latino USA’s Maria Hinojosa and Fernanda Echavarri take listeners along as they document raids from Bakersfield to L.A. to Chicago. They follow a man who was arrested while taking the bus home from work the first weekend of the L.A. raids and later deported to Mexico. They also speak to elected leaders — including President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum, Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass — about their efforts to push back against the raids. 

Listen to the episode here.

As California leaders move to curb prison overcrowding, some state lawmakers and prison officials are pushing for single-person cells that they argue could help prison residents and the public stay safe, writes CalMatters’ Joe Garcia.

California’s 31 prisons are operating at about 120% of their collective design capacity. But the state’s incarcerated population is declining, and four prisons have closed so far under Newsom, with one more closure in the works.

These efforts are rekindling conversations about single-occupancy cells, which can help reduce stress, anxiety and the rate of physical harm among prisoners. San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, for example, is working toward making single-person cells available to all incarcerated people by spring 2026, according to a center spokesperson.

California legislators also considered a bill this session to establish single-occupancy cell pilot programs at four state prisons. Some prison abolitionists groups and incarcerated individuals opposed the bill, however, arguing that providing more single-cell units interferes with the broader goal of closing as many prisons as possible. The measure stalled in the Legislature, but it’s expected to be reintroduced next year. 

Read more here.

Two federal judges issued rulings Friday directing the Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay for federal food benefits. While it’s unclear whether the administration will take action, CalMatters reporters spoke to CalFresh recipients and food bank organizers as aid remains cut and the government shutdown drags on. Read more here.