Head Start got her out of homelessness.
asserted
Start → get → homelessness
Trump proposal threatens that help for others
No one thing led to TaNisha Thomas becoming homeless.
asserted
Thomas → threaten → others
Things started to unravel when she lost her job at the shipping company DHL in 2021.
asserted
she → start → 2021
She was pregnant, and she got so far behind on rent she had to move back home to Fort Worth, Texas.
asserted
she → get → Worth
She remembers all the nights spent on the couches of family members and friends.
asserted
She → remember → members
Every morning started with a list of high-stakes questions rolling through her mind: "I don't know where we're gonna eat and I don't know where we're gonna sleep," she recalls.
asserted
she → start → where
"Every day I'm working towards just surviving."
asserted
I → work → ?
After she had her son, she managed to get a job at Walmart — then her car broke down.
asserted
car → have → Walmart
Between Ubers to get to work and childcare costs, she was spending money faster than she could make it.
uncertain
she → get → it
Once she ran out of couches, Thomas started making calls.
asserted
Thomas → run → calls
She had to use public Wi-Fi since her phone service had been cut off.
asserted
service → have → Fi
She found the Center for Transforming Lives, a Fort Worth nonprofit that works to get single mothers back on their feet after hardship.
asserted
that → find → hardship
The center's staff quickly helped enroll Thomas' son in Head Start.
asserted
staff → enroll → Start
The 60-year-old anti-poverty program provides preschool and childcare along with meals and support services for qualifying families.
asserted
program → provide → families
It now serves more than 700,000 kids each year from birth to age 5.
asserted
It → serve → age
Given Thomas' lack of permanent housing, her son avoided having to wait for a Head Start slot.
asserted
son → give → slot
It gave her time to take a breath and take care of herself.
asserted
It → give → herself
It's a moment she now credits as saving her life: "I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I would not be here.
asserted
I → credit → doubt
I would not be alive," she says.
asserted
she → say → ?
"I wouldn't have made it through that time without them."
asserted
I → make → them
If the new Trump administration proposal, to shrink a 133-page list of Head Start requirements down to only a handful, is adopted, mothers like Thomas likely wouldn't be able to take the same path.
asserted
mothers → shrink → path
Shutting the door on homeless students
asserted
Shutting → shut → students
That's because the new proposal would eliminate a rule that allows centers to set aside spots for homeless students and those in the foster care system.
asserted
centers → eliminate → system
Right now, Head Start centers can reserve up to 3% of their slots for families who are homeless or for children in foster care.
asserted
who → reserve → care
And families would no longer be able to simply declare they are homeless; they would need to prove it, says Barbara Duffield, the executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, a national organization working to overcome homelessness through education
"
asserted
Duffield → declare → education
Most of the families who are living in rural and suburban parts of the country have no documentation to show that they're experiencing homelessness," Duffield says.
asserted
Duffield → live → homelessness
"Mostly they're going from place to place because there aren't shelters."
asserted
they → go → place
Others are fleeing domestic violence or dangerous living conditions and do not have time to gather paperwork before leaving.
asserted
Others → flee → paperwork
Under present guidelines, homeless students can enroll without birth certificates or other necessary documents, and families are given time to get them together while the children access care.
asserted
children → enroll → care
The new proposal could bar students from services until they have the correct paperwork.
uncertain
they → bar → paperwork
Duffield says if that part of the proposal is adopted, it will almost definitely result in fewer homeless students participating in Head Start at all.
asserted
students → say → Start
"Head Start is so much more for families who are experiencing homelessness," she says, "because of its ability to stop the harm that's already happened and then set families up for never experiencing homelessness again.
asserted
that → experience → homelessness
The Trump administration's new proposal confused some advocates.
asserted
proposal → confuse → advocates
Many were bracing for the administration to cut the program outright based on other actions it has taken related to Head Start.
asserted
it → brace → Start
Instead, the proposal lays out a goal of drawing more students into Head Start: at least 200,000 more by its own estimates.
asserted
proposal → lay → estimates
The proposal would limit how much Head Start centers can spend on administrative overhead, from a maximum of 15% to a 5% cap.
asserted
centers → limit → cap
This is money that centers spend on things including front office workers and education specialists.
asserted
centers → spend → workers
A specialist in Fort Worth is the one who noticed Thomas' son was not speaking at a year old, got him a speech pathologist and eventually, dental surgery.
asserted
son → notice → pathologist
The Trump administration estimates the changes would save $2.2 billion, which it said it would put back into Head Start.
asserted
it → estimate → Start
"We have 1,600 Head Start providers across the country," Alex Adams, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) assistant secretary for family support, said in an August call with reporters announcing the proposed changes.
asserted
Adams → have → changes
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
