Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and heating assistance provide support for low-income people in our region. Recent layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will impact those programs.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, helps offset high heating and cooling bills for about 6.2 million Americans. Vermont Public environment and climate change reporter Abagael Giles tells us about the future of LIHEAP funding, now that the 25 federal employees who administer it have been laid off.
We also learn about the uncertain future of local Head Start and Meals on Wheels programs with Mary Hayden, the executive director of the Vermont Association of Area Agencies on Aging, and Debra Gass, the executive director of the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Early Education Services, which oversees Head Start services for 136 families.
This episode included a conversation with Vermont's poet laureate Bianca Stone as part of our weekly series for National Poetry Month.
Broadcast live on Tuesday, April 9, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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