During National Book Month, Pressley Toured ABCD and Read to Head Start Children

Project 2025 Would Eliminate Head Start and Deny 11,000 Massachusetts Children Childcare Access and Other Services

Photos (Dropbox)

BOSTON – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Co-Founder of the Stop Project 2025 Task Force, visited ABCD Jamaica Plain Head Start & Children’s Services to highlight the threat of Project 2025 to early education in Massachusetts and across the country. Congresswoman Pressley, whose visit comes during National Book Month, read to Head Start children and joined ABCD leadership and staff for a tour of the center.

Project 2025, a bucket list of extreme right-wing policies, would completely eliminate the Head Start program, which provides access to no-cost childcare and other services for nearly 11,000 children in Massachusetts, including 2,500 children in the Massachusetts 7^th Congressional District, and serves more than 833,000 children living in poverty nationwide.

“I was proud to visit ABCD Head Start in JP to read to our babies and highlight how impactful and life-changing the work they do is,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “While Republicans try to eliminate Head Start, raise costs for families, and exacerbate the childcare crisis, I’ll keep pressing to expand these essential programs, raise the wages of our early educators, and invest in affordable, high-quality childcare for all. Thank you to President Scott-Chandler, Executive Director Haimowitz, and everyone at ABCD and Head Start Massachusetts for all that you do support our families.”

Joining Rep. Pressley at the event were Sharon Scott-Chandler, ABCD President and CEO; Kim Weldon, Jamaica Plain Head Start Center Director; Josh Young, VP of Field Operations & Legislative Affairs; Michelle Haimowitz, Executive Director, Massachusetts Head Start Association; and Head Start children and staff.

“Congresswoman Pressley has been an ally, an advocate, and, when necessary, a warrior for children and families when access to vital resources is at risk—as is the case if proponents of Project 2025 are able to enact its draconian policies. We are grateful for Rep. Pressley’s resolve to keep Head Start in place and, indeed, expand it,” said Sharon Scott-Chandler, President and CEO of Action for Boston Community Development.

“We are deeply grateful to Congresswoman Pressley for fighting for early childhood education and care programs such as Head Start. She is a longtime advocate who understands that paying qualified teachers and staff equitably is essential; wages are an investment in families and this country’s future,” said Flossy Calderon, Vice President of ABCD Head Start & Children’s Services.

“Head Start’s comprehensive services provide a vital lifeline to vulnerable families in the Massachusetts 7^th and across the Commonwealth. We are so fortunate to have Congresswoman Pressley as a champion for Head Start in Congress, leading the charge for our Head Start families, educators, and programs. We look forward to continuing to partner with the Congresswoman to see that every vulnerable family has access to the high-quality Head Start services they deserve,” said Michelle Haimowitz, Executive Director, Massachusetts Head Start Association.

Photos from the event can be found here.

In Congress, Rep. Pressley has consistently sounded the alarm about Project 2025 and made the case for robust federal investments in childcare, living wages for early educators, support for the Head Start program, paid leave, and other policies that support families across the country.

Last year, Congresswoman Pressley welcomed Jaqueline Sanches, a Mattapan resident, early educator, and mother of two, as her guest to President Biden’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. In 2022, Rep. Pressley’s virtual guest to President Biden’s State of the Union Addres was Christina Morris, a Hyde Park resident, union carpenter, and mother of four who has advocated for affordable childcare so working parents like herself can make ends meet and take care of their families.

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