Community Action's vast service area employs around 130 people in six counties and the biggest portion of those employees are dedicated to the Head Start program.
Executive Director Alison Rumler-Gomez indicates, like school districts, Community Action struggles to find educators for their classrooms.
Meeting the Head Start requirements is a challenge for Community Action and Rumler-Gomez indicates it is because of a requirement that has to do with early childhood education.
To fill the need, Rumler-Gomez says a lot of the support staff they have bounced around and join the classroom to some capacity.
For Rumler-Gomez, the challenge is meeting different requirements from the state and federal levels. She points out, they are advocating for a streamlining of those requirements.
Rumler-Gomez says they have to turn down a lot of quality and qualified candidates because of all the education components. She feels frustrated because they're so desperate to fill the need.
