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Parents and providers urge council to sustain MEO Head Start and early childhood supports
Summary
Head Start parents and MEO staff described program impacts on preschool readiness and family stability and asked the council to continue funding for early childhood services included in the FY26 budget proposal.
Parents, program aides and MEO Head Start representatives told the Maui County Council that county funds support early childhood development, home visits and extended hours that help working families.
“Please continue to support the MEO Head Start program. They really do help single parents, struggling parents, and family members,” said Mary Smith, a MEO Head Start parent who recounted family participation across generations.
Parents and staff highlighted services including home visits, family support, speech services and extended hours that facilitate parents’ work schedules. Carrie Ald, a Wailuku Head Start parent, said her child’s communication skills improved markedly after Head Start intervention and cited extended county‑supported hours that eased the family’s childcare needs while both parents work.
Other nonprofits providing early childhood and family services also testified. Adele Gildarena, CEO of Maui Family Support Services, thanked the council for prior support and noted that relatively small county investments leverage substantial federal funding for programs including Early Head Start, Connections childcare subsidies and childcare subsidies administered with state and federal partners. “For every dollar that the county provide, we are able to leverage your funding significantly through federal and state funding,” she said, and described specific leverage ratios cited to the council during testimony.
Why it matters: Testimony emphasized that county funding acts as the non‑federal share required to unlock larger federal grants and that continuity of local support sustains service capacity for families across the county.
No votes were taken during the hearing.
