VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - As the government shutdown stretches, families across Southwest Georgia could soon feel the effects this time in the classroom.

Head Start programs, which provide early education, nutrition, and childcare to low-income families, are funded on staggered grant cycles. That means some programs receive their federal funding at different points throughout the year. However, during a shutdown, those funds cease to flow.

When the federal shutdown began on Oct. 1, Head Start programs in three states didn’t receive their operational funding putting services for more than 6,000 children in jeopardy.

So far, Coastal Plains Area EOA serving Lowndes, Lanier, Cook, Brooks, Echols, Berrien, Irwin, Tift, Turner, and Ben Hill counties remains open, but if the government shutdown p

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