Near the playground at A. Washington Child Development Center in San Marcos, children scoop soil into garden beds, their small hands guided by teachers as they learn to plant sunflower seeds.

The overview

While most of the center’s students are toddlers enrolled in Early Head Start, the garden program primarily serves preschool-aged children from Head Start classrooms, offering them a chance to explore nature, learn responsibility and develop motor skills through hands-on activities.

On sunny days, children hop from tile to tile around the garden beds—their painted handprints decorating each step.

At Head Start and Early Head Start locations, programs facilitated by Community Action Inc. of Central Texas, learning extends beyond the classroom. Teachers are integrating gardening and other experiential learning into the curriculum, helping children connect with their environment while building essential developmental skills.

Zooming in

Head Start’s commitment to the community encompasses more than the garden program. The organization provides comprehensive early childhood education and family support services to low-income families in Hays and Caldwell counties, said Danielle Engelke, Head Start director at Community Action.

Head Start services, designed for children ages 3 to 5, aim to promote school readiness and holistic development, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, website. Early Head Start, which serves children from birth to up until age 3, focuses on supporting healthy early development.

About the program

Head Start and Early Head Start are free, federally funded programs designed to promote school readiness for infants, toddlers and preschoolers from low-income families.

Locally, Community Action facilitates these programs along with a broad spectrum of wraparound support services, including utility assistance, help with medical appointments, adult education, job training, housing support and more, according to Engelke. All are aimed at empowering individuals and strengthening families in need.

Engelke said each week, children are brought to the centers to learn and grow in a nurturing environment. While they explore and develop, parents can work or attend school, knowing their children are receiving care and education that can change the trajectory of their lives.

But according to Engelke, it’s crucial to understand that this is more than just a day care.

“We do so much for these families to help them get out of poverty and stand on their own,” Engelke said. “It's not just teaching them to be a better parent—we help them advocate for themselves.”

How we got here

According to the Head Start website, Head Start and Early Head Start are funded through federal grants administered by HHS. These grants are awarded to local public and private nonprofit and for-profit agencies, such as Community Action Inc. of Central Texas, which then operate the programs within their communities.

Funding is allocated based on factors like community need, program performance and compliance with national Head Start Program Performance Standards.

There are multiple Early Head Start and Head Start locations across Hays and Caldwell counties:



What else?

Head Start also gives children the opportunity to get their hands dirty—literally.

Thanks to a $5,000 grant from ScottsMiracle-Gro, four locations in Central Texas facilitated by Community Action have planted the seeds of a new garden program where learning blossoms outside the classroom walls.

Locations with new gardens include Head Start sites in Lockhart, Luling, Kyle and San Marcos.How it works

Each site features raised beds filled with child-safe, screened plants that invite students to observe, explore and plant seeds of their own.

Teachers seamlessly tie garden time to classroom lessons, introducing concepts like plant life cycles, parts of a flower and environmental care, according to Head Start teacher Haley Bateman. It’s hands-on, sensory-rich learning that sticks, she said.“[The children] are going to be able to have a long-lasting understanding of the life cycle of a plant and parts of plants at this age,” Bateman said. “But maybe more importantly, it’s about caring for something—taking responsibility and seeing that your effort and attention can help something grow. That will stay with them.”

The challenges

Despite its deep impact on children and families, Head Start is grappling with rising concerns about the stability of its federal funding, Engelke said.

In early April, HHS shuttered five regional Office of Head Start locations, in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, as part of a federal downsizing plan under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to a news release from National Head Start Association.

What's next

Engelke said the recent changes raise concerns about a potential shift away from federal support—even though Head Start itself has not yet faced direct funding cuts. That uncertainty has prompted staff such as Nutrition Coordinator Mylinda Zapata to question how such a shift could affect their communities.

“If it falls on the states, that concerns me that Texas would not prioritize [the program as something] that they would use state funds for,” Zapata said. “I don’t want to see what it would look like without [the program].”

In response, Community Action is mobilizing. Staff are contacting local lawmakers and encouraging parents to do the same. Engelke said the hope is that by bringing representatives to tour Head Start sites and see the work firsthand, they’ll understand what’s at stake.