“The colors were brighter than any she had seen before. Shapes, letters, and lots and lots of colors adorned the walls; around the room, children worked together building high rises with colored blocks and "read" colorful picture books. "I had never seen so much color," Angelica Salazar recalls of her first days as a Head Start preschooler in Duarte, Calif. She remembers the discovery of library books and spending hours curled up on the reading rug. Head Start was Angie's first formal experience learning English. Her parents, who spoke mostly Spanish, enrolled her in the program knowing that their little girl would need English to succeed in school.

Today, Angelica Salazar, a graduate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, serves as a juvenile justice policy associate at the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), where she works to help identify and change policies that trap millions of our nation's children in a pipeline to prison every year.”

-          Marian Wright Edelman’s Child Watch^® Column “From Head Start to Harvard”

Dear Child Advocate,

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported 57,000 children have been cut from Head Start and Early Head Start as a result of the sequester.

Because Congress was NOT careful what they cut, tens of thousands of children will not have a rich, high-quality early learning experience. Shame on them.

What happens now is up to us. Do we invest in high quality early childhood development and learning or turn our back on the future?

According to a recent poll, seven in 10 Americans support a federal plan that invests in high-quality early childhood education for our youngest children. In fact, only the economy rates higher in terms of importance for voters. Now we must build the political will to ensure it happens!

Here is what you can do:

1. Share your stories on the benefits of early learning. Stories from parents who have seen their children develop critical skills by being in a high-quality early learning environment. Stories from early care providers about the positive impact that high-quality care has on a child’s development. Your stories are powerful and we have a plan to deliver them to Congress.
2. Take action to end the cuts to Head Start and Early Head Start. Take Congress back to school and tell them ‘Be Careful What You Cut’. Urge your Senators and Representative to repeal sequestration when they return to Washington in September.
3. Share our button on facebook. Raise your hand in support of early childhood development and learning and ask your friends to join our efforts.

For many, ‘Back to School’ is a time of excitement, shopping for new clothes, backpacks, pencils and notebooks. Where will the 57,000 children go without their Head Start programs? It’s up to us to roll back the cuts and make investing in our youngest children a national priority.

Thanks for taking a stand with us on this important issue.

-          Children’s Defense Fund