Scenes from the Sequester: Adult Decisions Hurting Our Youth

In the latest installment of our semi-regular video series, we meet Aldira Aldape and Mike Toledo. Both work at nonprofit community-based organizations in NCLR’s Affiliate network.  Aldira and Mike both have deep concerns about the effects of the sequester—mandatory across-the-board cuts to the federal budget—will have on one of our most successful early education programs, Head Start.

We all know that Latino children will make up the bulk of our future workforce. That’s why investments in our youth are so important. With the sequester in effect, however, those investments are harder to make. The policies of austerity in place today jeopardize the future prosperity of America.

Head Start is a program designed to help some of our most vulnerable youngsters get much-needed and critical early education. This cherished program serves more than one third of Latino preschoolers, more than 300,000 kids. Since the arbitrary cuts went into effect in March, however, 70,000 fewer kids have been served, including 25,000 Latinos.

Watch Aldape of Centro Hispano of Milwaukee explain how these Head Start cuts are affecting Latinos in her community.

http://youtu.be/Hhz93jyYmO8

The executive director of Hispanic Center in Reading, Penn., Mike Toledo, also discusses how the cuts to Head Start are creating real problems for those in need.

http://youtu.be/Y-tuT-gWYHg

We can do better than this. We must avoid more disastrous cuts by replacing the sequester with sound budgetary improvements. Join our fight and help guarantee Latino youth get all the support and services they need!