Mass confusion after MAP, Inc. loses federal funding to run Head Start centers in northern Mississippi

Nearly 2,000 families may be without child care at the start of this school year after dozens of child care centers run by Mississippi Action for Progress in northern Mississippi have not reopened after losing their federal funding.

Mississippi Action for Progress Inc., an administrator of Head Start pre-kindergarten centers, has lost funding to run its northern district centers – of which there are 28 listed on the group’s website – after the federal Administration for Children and Families found multiple deficiencies in MAP’s operations, including the group’s failure to report sexual abuse at one of its centers. MAP’s tax disclosures in 2024 showed that its revenue of $78,850,872 came entirely from government grants.

Head Start is a federal program that, for 60 years, has provided earl