“I just think about the impact to learning if we don’t have this,” said Shannon Vaughn, director of Head Start for SHARE.
SHARE is the largest Head Start operator in the state, with 27 centers serving about 1,100 kids in four Upstate counties. Across South Carolina, federal grants pay for Head Start centers in 40 of the state’s 46 counties, all run by local school districts like Charleston County’s or nonprofits like SHARE or First Steps.
Telford, who is on SHARE’s policy council, said he has urged the nonprofit to approach private businesses for possible partnerships.
“It’s scary times,” he said.
Local operators are getting the news about federal funding at the same time as the general public, said Jeri Ross Hayes, director of Early Head Start for Spartanburg County First Steps.
“Head Start is kind of in a waiting game right now,” Hayes said.
A sign on the front door of a Sunbelt Human Advancement Resources (SHARE) Head Start center in Greenville on Friday, April 18, 2025. The federal government has cut funding to regional offices of the Head Start program in recent weeks, and local centers fear their programming grants might be next.
Because Richland County’s Early Head Start program receives its more than $2 million in federal funding through a monthly reimbursement system, any changes would be felt “pretty immediately,” added Rachel Fulmer, the board chair of Richland County First Steps, which operates the Early Head Start program there.
Demand far exceeds available slots at Head Start, where enrollment prioritizes low-income families with complex issues including developmental delays, trauma, mental or physical challenges, addiction, and homelessness.
Of the state’s 75,000 children under five living in poverty, roughly 13 percent are enrolled in a federally funded Head Start program, according to the U.S. Census and federal Head Start data. More than 7,100 kids are in Head Start 3K and 4K classes, and nearly 2,200 infants and toddlers are in Early Head Start classes.