In some counties in Southwest and Southside, nearly 40% of kids depend on Medicaid

When it comes to building a career, or an entire workforce, kids have to come first. 

Just ask Taneisha Mathews. In 2022, she enrolled in night classes at Central Virginia Community College and brought her daughters — ages 10 and 3 — with her. While her older daughter read in the student center and her toddler sat with her in class, Taneisha invested in her future. Her education meant she could serve more families in central Virginia and earn a better income for her kids.

But working parents like Taneisha could soon face impossible choices. Programs that help Virginia families and kids are at risk from budget cuts coming out of Washington, as the new Republican majority takes aim at programs like Head Start and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. But there’s hope in this story, too. Southwest and Southern Virginia’s unique political power in D.C. means local families have a chance to protect these programs and the kids who depend on them.

The cuts Republicans are pushing would hit hardest close to home. Take health care: Congressional Republicans are proposing to end Medicaid expansion and cut $2.3 trillion from the program. In Fairfax County, about 22 percent of kids rely on Medicaid. But in our southern and southwest communities — places like Mecklenburg, Brunswick and Lee County — that number jumps to nearly 40%. Even families with private insurance would suffer as local pediatricians and hospitals that depend on Medicaid payments struggle to keep their doors open.

Education is on the chopping block, too. The Head Start program provides support and services for kids from birth till age 5. Many of the more than 390 centers in the commonwealth are located in Southern and Southwest Virginia. Some are even found where parents need them most, like the Head Start classroom at New River Community College, one of 950 programs at career centers and technical schools nationwide. 

These programs are just as good for parents as they are for kids. Oklahoma found that parents of a kid enrolled in Head Start were more likely to complete their certifications and find a job. Los Angeles Valley College in California found that their on-site child care doubled the probability that a parent graduated.

A country that wants working families to succeed would invest in these programs, making sure that every family could use them. Instead, President Donald Trump’s “Project 2025” would eliminate funding for Head Start entirely, and his recent push for a federal funding freeze shows how far he’s willing to go.

Every community in Southwest Virginia needs to prepare for these changes, as they could come as soon as this spring or summer. Local community leaders and organizations like churches, chambers of commerce and nonprofits need to come up with plans to shore up their childcare resources and support working families if federal funding disappears.

But these communities — and the parents who rely on these programs — don’t need to only play defense. They can go on offense, too. 

Southwest and Southern Virginia families have a unique power in Washington. Republicans hold the slimmest House majority in modern history, and this region’s representatives have unusual influence.

• Rep. John McGuire (5th District) was President Trump’s personal choice in a narrow primary battle last year. 
• Rep. Ben Cline (6th District) sits on the Appropriations Committee that handles federal spending decisions. 
• Speaker of the House Mike Johnson just named Rep. Morgan Griffith (9th District) vice chair of the Rules Committee that manages how legislation is handled in the House. 

Parents in Southwest and Southern Virginia have, as their voices in Washington, powerful lawmakers who have the ear of top leaders in the Republican Party. They can shape which programs are protected, and which aren’t. 

Those men, and their staff, should hear from their constituents. They should hear why these programs are so important to the people they represent, and why the education, health and well-being of our kids demands their protection and their investment. Families in Southern and Southwest Virginia have no time to waste, and too much at stake.

Brian Chiglinsky, a native of Salem, is a health care communications consultant and was the former director of speechwriting at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration. He has experience in health care startups, as well as local, state and federal government, and can be reached at [email protected].