Facing Arizona: I am the current director of the Arizona Head Start Association

Editor’s note: Facing Arizona is a series that will appear on KTAR.com and social media  — follow KTAR News on Instagram and Facebook for updates — highlighting unique and everyday people across our state and give you a glimpse into their lives.

“My name is Mo Gallegos and I am the current director of the Arizona Head Start Association…

“… If the [government] shutdown had continued, long enough, into weeks, funding starts to shut down. All of the head start programs across Arizona, they serve over 22,000 children, those classrooms would just start to shut down. Bills wouldn’t get paid, rent wouldn’t get paid, It would have a very severe economic impact. The children wouldn’t be in classrooms, they wouldn’t be learning. Anytime you break that continuity, even if it started up again in a week or two, then you have a lost period of time which is extremely critical to children.

“We have the head start classrooms, we work with childcare entities, these services would be affected. Many of the parents work full time so this would affect their ability to work. They rely on their children being in the classrooms or use the childcare services, so they can work. So, you do have an enormous ripple effect.”