poor and minority children—is more critical than ever. But right now less than half of those eligible for Head Start and fewer than 3 percent of those eligible for Early Head Start, a program for infants and toddlers, are enrolled. Poor children are already behind their higher income peers in cognitive development at nine months old; the gap is even wider by 24 months. By kindergarten, poor children have to beat the odds to catch up—and as the testing shows, many never do. Quality, com- prehensive child development programs are crucial for the physical, emotional, and educational health of all children—especially poor and at-risk children. Extensive research also shows that early child- hood programs significantly increase a child's chances of avoiding the prison pipeline that Angie now studies as a policy expert, and investments in quality early education can pro- duce a rate of return to society significantly high- er than returns to most stock market investments or traditional economic development projects.


There is a tragic irony to the fact that as our nation prepares to celebrate the Week of the Young Child from April 10-14, Congress is debating whether to slash more than $1 billion from Head Start and to cut the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, and other essential programs for young children. But that is just the beginning. This week, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled a propos- al that would dismantle Medicaid and other lifelines for poor chil- dren in order to give trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the richest Americans and corporations. Where are our nation’s values? We must stand up for programs that support the cradle to college pipeline. We simply can’t afford to leave even more poor babies, toddlers, and preschoolers behind. Watch Angie’s story yourself— and tell Congress, don’t cut Head Start. - Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch Column


S A L U D O S H I S P A N O S


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