ANSONIA – When Yvette Cartagena moved to Connecticut from New York more than 38 years ago, she had three children to take care of and no family nearby to help.
One day, Cartagena said, a neighbor told her to enroll her then-three-year-old son in the Head Start program.
“At that time, I thought I was signing my child up for preschool. What I didn’t realize was Head Start was about to change my life,” Cartagena said.
Cartagena was one of seven speakers at a press conference Wednesday (June 17) to mark the federal government’s allocation of about $9.2 million in support for TEAM, Inc.’s Head Start program. The program supports more than 600 pre-school children across the lower Naugatuck Valley with free, full-time daycare.
The money comes as the second payment in a five-year contract to allow TEAM to continue the program. Head Start, a program under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also provides health, nutrition and parental involvement services to low-income families and their children.
It was established in the late 1960s as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”
After Cartagena enrolled her son in Head Start, she began volunteering with the program, eventually taking a job as a bus driver in 1988.
She said in her more than two decades in that role, she was able to watch children and their families grow and learn from time at Head Start.
“I have seen parents return to school, I have seen parents overcome enormous obstacles, I have seen children become teachers, social workers, community leaders and loving parents,” Cartagena said.
Cartagena herself would return to school and obtain a bachelor’s degree in human services before taking on a new position as a family support manager for TEAM in 2015. Now, after 38 years, she’s looking ahead to her retirement next week.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who spoke at the event, presented Cartagena with a proclamation recognizing her service over the years.
DeLauro: Federal Funds Still In Jeopardy
DeLauro said the $9.2 million allocation – the same as TEAM received last year, according to TEAM CEO Tim Makris – was hard-won.
She said President Donald Trump’s administration proposed flat funding for the program for the year ahead in its annual budget request.
“Let me just tell you, level funding in the environment that we’re currently in, with this administration, to be very frank with you, is a victory. We’re trying to keep them from lowering the costs,” DeLauro said.
DeLauro is the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. Congress has not yet passed a final budget for the coming year.
She said that funding Head Start should be a priority for lawmakers. She referred to a study conducted in New Haven by researchers from Yale and Brown universities, which found that early childhood services lead to economic benefits down the line.
“They found that every dollar spent on a program providing free, full-time daycare for preschoolers generated six dollars in economic benefits. Most of that return came from extra pay that parents could earn because they had additional hours of care for their kids. In other words, childcare not only pays for itself, it pays for the rest of us as well,” DeLauro said.
Her words were echoed by Makris, the TEAM CEO, who said Head Start is “under threat” from the Trump administration’s budget proposal. He said that, although the federal funding won’t cover cost increases from inflation, TEAM will maintain all of the Head Start programming it ran last year.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure our kids and our families have what they need, despite some of the headwinds,” Makris said.
He said that Head Start prepares children and their families for success later in life.
“It’s the promise that a three-year-old from the Valley will walk into a classroom that believes in them, feeds them, cares for their health, and supports their family, and prepares them to thrive. For 60 years, Head Start has kept that promise for children who need it most,” Makris said.
On the state side, two officials from the Office of Early Childhood said TEAM’s Head Start program provides a positive example for Connecticut programs to follow.
“We see TEAM, we see Head Start as a model, a model of what we want to grow more within the state of Connecticut as we continue to expand what we do,” said Elena Trueworthy, the state’s early childhood commissioner.
Trueworthy pointed to a recent investment in the state’s budget which will bring Connecticut’s early childhood endowment to more than $600 million. The endowment aims to expand early child care throughout the state by allowing more families to enroll in state-funded childcare programs while building more facilities for that purpose, according to its website.
Speakers Reflect On Head Start’s Impact
Along with Cartagena, two other speakers said Head Start has made a massive impact on their lives.
Robyn Stanley is a teacher who has worked for TEAM since 1979, making her the organization’s longest-serving employee. Like Cartagena, she said her journey with Head Start began when she was a young mother trying to make ends meet.
After she enrolled her child with the program, she too began volunteering before formally taking a job. She said that, in the years since, she’s seen her former students grow into parents, business owners, healthcare workers, teachers, tradespeople, and community leaders.
She said Head Start is an important resource for struggling parents to have access to.
“Sometimes life is just ‘lifing’: The bills are piling up. Childcare is complicated. Relationships are difficult. You’re trying to be a good parent while also holding everything else together. And in those moments, it can make all the difference when someone says, ‘We’re here for you,’” Stanley said.
Jackee Parks, who is an ambassador for the Valley Early Childhood Collaborative and whose own three-year-old son is enrolled in Head Start, said she learned many of the lessons that defined her path when she herself was a child in the program.
Parks said she grew up in the former federally subsidized housing complex on Olson Drive as a child, and that Head Start provided a healthier space to grow compared to the complex.
“As many families, my family faced struggles and challenges, but Head Start was a place where I could learn, grow, and thrive. It was a place where caring adults recognized my strength and encouraged me to believe in myself during a difficult time of my childhood,” Parks said.
She said reflecting on her experiences at Head Start later led her to become a babysitter and then to continue working with children in her adult life. She said that when her son now walks into the program, she sees the same promise that she herself saw as a kid.
“When we walk through our program, to see my son run in and be so happy greeting teachers, gives me the same joy that I had when I was going into TEAM,” Parks said.
Elected and public officials in attendance included Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis, state Reps. Kara Rochelle and Mary Welander, state Sen. Jason Perillo, and Ansonia Chief of Staff Javier Varas.