By Leslie Burg
Editor’s note: Leslie Burg, Manchester, is a community member of the Rutland Head Start Policy Council and an emerita professor of literacy and disabilities at Northeastern University.
Show the state and the country that Rutland will not stand by while its most vulnerable residents are abandoned.
Rutland is a city that represents the best of what it means to be American: hardworking, community-minded and resilient. But right now, we are facing a crisis that could upend the lives of hundreds of local families — and leave an already stretched community reeling.
The Trump administration has proposed eliminating all federal funding for Head Start in its 2026 budget. If this budget moves forward, it will not only devastate Rutland County Head Start — it will also trigger a ripple effect across countless essential services in our region.
Let me be clear: Head Start is not “just child care.” It is a lifeline.
Our program currently serves 69 of Rutland’s most vulnerable infants, toddlers and preschoolers — all from families living at or below the poverty line. For $1.9 million in federal support, Rutland receives a comprehensive, wraparound support system that includes:
Family stabilization — Rutland County Head Start Director Donna Barrow has told me that 25% of our families are homeless and 50% are navigating mental health needs.
Developmental screenings — Barrow also says that 25% of children we serve receive special education support because we caught early warning signs.
Health and nutrition — Many of our children would not eat consistently without the meals and snacks we provide daily.
Job security for parents — Without our program, working parents — mostly in low-wage jobs — would lose their ability to earn an income.
We’ve spent over 30 years building a program that works. It’s efficient, effective and deeply rooted in the needs of this community. If the proposed cuts go through, this entire system collapses overnight. And not just ours.
Other local programs — those that support domestic violence survivors, provide mental health services, house the unhoused and deliver early intervention care — are also dependent on fragile federal and state funding streams. Many are already stretched to the breaking point. If one piece falls, others will be forced to fill the void with fewer resources and greater need. The cost will not only be measured in dollars, but in the toll on families, frontline workers and the long-term health of our city.
We’re already seeing the warning signs: Families living in cars and tents. Parents with not enough food for their family. Children poisoned by lead, left untested until they show signs of learning delays. Teachers and staff — some of them parents themselves — facing the threat of losing their homes if our program disappears.
This is not hypothetical. This is already happening. And without action, it’s about to get much worse.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Rutland has the power to respond — together.
We need our elected officials, local leaders, business owners, nonprofit partners and neighbors to come together and push back. We must tell our stories. Write letters. Make calls. Organize. Show the state and the country that Rutland will not stand by while its most vulnerable residents are abandoned.
This is not just about Head Start. It’s about every program that helps keep our community whole. It’s about the belief that every child, regardless of ZIP code or income level, deserves a fair start.
The attack on Rutland’s Head Start program is close and personal to us. However, we need to understand that this is taking place across our country. Programs intended to help our most vulnerable, children, families, the disabled and our elderly, are being defunded and strategically destroyed.
Programs intended to benefit America’s middle-class — i.e. Pell grants so high school students who wish to can afford to go on to college, and, yes, Social Security — are being stripped and sold for parts. The list goes on.
The eroding of our institutions and programs that support the health and welfare of all Americans has but one objective — to weaken them until they ultimately collapse, taking our federal government with them, opening the door to an oligarchic dictatorship, erasing everything America has stood for over the past 250 years.
Rutland has to speak out, opposing the elimination of our Head Start program, so essential to our community. However, we also have to recognize the danger to our country as a whole, and make our voices heard while we can. The kind of future those currently in power have for America will find us in a country we no longer recognize and don’t want to live in. We must speak out now, before we lose the rights we take for granted and our voices are silenced.
This is not just about Head Start. It’s about every program that helps keep our communities and our country whole. It’s about the belief that every child, regardless of ZIP code or income level, deserves a fair start and that every American deserves a fair shake.
If you’re reading this and wondering how to help — start by speaking up. Talk to your neighbors. Share this story. Contact your representatives. Demand that programs like Head Start, and the many others serving families in crisis, be protected and fully funded.
Rutland is stronger when we stand together. Let’s raise our voices before it’s too late.
