Katrina Still Impacting Early Childhood Programs

A year after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, many preschools, child care centers, and other early childhood programs in the region are still struggling to reopen. Education Week (September 6, 2006; www.edweek.org) cited a Save the Children study that was conducted by the Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State University, which reported that in Louisiana, only 53 of the 266 child care centers that were operating in Orleans Parish before Katrina have reopened. About half the ones that remain closed are not expected to reopen. The study also showed that only about 10 of the 30 Head Start or Early Head Start programs in the New Orleans area are again serving children.

Programs "are coming back more slowly than we would have expected," said Judy Watts. She observed that while some grants from the state and from private foundations are available for materials and equipment, there isn't enough money for every center.

The lack of up-and-running preschools is affecting families who have returned to the area, Watts added. "Housing is the biggest barrier for people who want to come back, but child care is right behind that," she observed.

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