LIBERTY, NY – A congressman said he is looking into whether Sullivan County Head Start, which closed abruptly last Friday, applied for millions of federal dollars the program was awarded.

In a statement released on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro (NY-19) said the program was awarded approximately $3.6 million in federal funding to continue operating through March 31, 2024. “Another award, for approximately the same dollar amount, would have been awarded to Sullivan County Head Start to continue operations past March 31, 2024 — if they applied,” he said. “As of now, it is unclear if they did.”

If this is the case, he said, the sudden and unexpected closure “should have never happened. Nearly 400 families are now without childcare and nearly 100 providers are without a job.”

He said he is a big supporter of the Head Start program and has been working with local and federal officials to find out what went wrong, and to find families a backup facility.

“Our priority has been to get kids temporary care and find the county a new, permanent Head Start provider,” he said.

He said his attempts to contact the Office of Head Start in Washington, D.C., have gone unanswered, and that two meetings to discuss a solution have been canceled.

“I’m going public with this information because Head Start won’t,” Molinaro said. “This organization, at all levels, owes Sullivan County answers. I’m not going to be silent while working families and their kids get screwed because of this incompetence.”

The program is fully funded, Molinaro said. Sullivan County Head Start gets 100 percent of its funding from the federal government

Bertha Williams, the executive director of Sullivan County Head Start, told the River Reporter on Monday that she has been in close touch with Head Start’s regional office. The program just ran out of money, she said.

“I hope they tell us what we need to do so that we can do it,” Williams said Monday.

Head Start was established in 1965 to provide early childhood education and other services to low-income families. Most Head Start participants are three or four years old but, since 1995, infants, toddlers, and pregnant women have been served in Early Head Start programs. Sullivan County had both programs.

A call to Sullivan Head Start was not immediately returned.