YAKIMA, Wash. - Enterprise for Progress in the Community (EPIC) centers across Yakima are facing a major layoff of nearly 200 employees, according to a report released Thursday.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) released an announcement stating 198 workers at EPIC centers in Yakima would be laid off starting June 30.
EPIC centers provide Head Start, Early Head Start and other programs for more than 1,000 low income children. It is a non-profit organization that has been serving the Yakima area for 45 years.
According to the organization, it received $7 million from the State of Washington for Early Childhood Education Assistance Programs and a $14 million contract from ESD 105 to provide Head Start, Early Head Start and Migrant Seasonal Head Start services in 2023-2024. It has programs in seven school districts including Yakima, East Valley, West Valley, Naches, Ellensburg, East Wenatchee and Bridgeport.
The employees who will be affected by this layoff have not yet been released.
Head Start programs across Washington are facing a funding crisis, especially with the Seattle regional Head Start office closing. The closure resulted in local programs being left in the dark as to how to secure grant renewals and left local working families in limbo with no place left to go. Earlier this year, the Trump Administration provided $1.6 billion in Head Start funding nationwide for January 1 to April 15. In 2024, the funding for that same time period was $2.5 billion. In the State of Washington, funding dropped from $50 million in 2024 to nearly $14 million in 2025 in that same time period.
According to the Washington ACLU, Attorney General Nick Brown joined a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration on the cuts to the Head Start program. It was filed on April 28 and plaintiffs include organizations from Oregon, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Brown said the actions violate constitutional provisions and federal laws like the Administrative Procedure Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
President Trump has not spoken publicly at this time about his decision to cut the funding to the Head Start program specifically. Washington Senator Patty Murray accused the president of trying to take essential support away from families nationwide.
At this time, it is not known if the layoffs set to take place at EPIC centers across the Yakima region are due to these funding cuts, but the WARN Act requires companies planning a mass layoff to notify workers 60 days before the closure happens.
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