Trump’s grant freeze was halted, but an Idaho nonprofit serving kids can’t get its money
A program that helps hundreds of low-income families in the Treasure Valley says it is unable to access its funds following the Trump administration’s effort to freeze federal grants.
Megan Woller, executive director of the Idaho Head Start Association, woke up to an alarming message Tuesday from one of the Head Start providers serving Southwest Idaho. Administrators of the program had tried to draw funds from its bank account, only to find that the money wasn’t there.
The Western Idaho Community Action Partnership, which serves Canyon, Payette, Gem, Valley and Washington counties, appears to be the only Head Start program in the state affected by the freeze, Woller told the Idaho Statesman.
More than 450 families rely on the partnership.
“It doesn’t seem to have any sort of pattern,” Woller said by phone. “It seems to just be random.”
Trump’s Office of Management and Budget ordered a freeze on federal grants effective Jan. 28. The administration quickly rescinded the memo ordering it, while saying a freeze would nonetheless take effect. But two federal judges temporarily blocked it in response to legal challenges.
Meanwhile, Head Start programs in other states around the country are reporting that their funds are missing too.
“Everyone’s just kind of in the dark,” Woller said.
Head Start is an early education program that provides health and nutrition services to children from birth through age 5 whose families are at or below the federal poverty guidelines and to children who are in the foster care system or experiencing homelessness, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The services are funded by federal money that’s dispensed weekly or biweekly.
Last year, the program served thousands of Idahoans. There are 270 Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms in the state, the Statesman previously reported.
The freeze means that over 100 staff members could miss a paycheck, Wollen said. The program has locations in Nampa, Caldwell, Emmett, Weiser, Marsing, Payette, Wilder and Donnelly.
“I tried to get some urgency from the governor’s office and they didn’t really want to do anything,” Woller said. “In so many words, they said that they can’t tell the president what to do. That’s not a direct quote, but that’s the gist of it.”
Gov. Brad Little’s office did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Rep. Mike Simpson, the only Idaho member of Congress who serves on an appropriations committee that recommends spending for programs including Head Start, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Idaho Democratic Party Chair Lauren Necochea said in a statement Thursday that state Republican leaders had reacted to the freeze on congressionally-approved grants for early learning with “silence and complicity.”
“They won’t lift a finger to stop Trump’s end-run around the Constitution, even as Idaho families pay the price,” Necochea said.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 11:31 AM.
