By: Diane Benjamin
If you don’t read this story first you won’t understand the below: https://blnnews.com/2025/04/30/3-things-you-need-to-know-11/
Start Early also got Federal money:
The audit is available here: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_audit/2024-06-GSAFAC-0000357380
PDF page 35 and following describe the audit problems discovered.
Tax returns are available if you page down. The 2022 tax return showed 451 employees. The purpose of this organization is: (as listed on the tax return)
Start Early provides high-quality early childhood services for low-income children, birth to age five, and their families, as well as services to pregnant women, through a multi-site network of Early Head Start and Head Start directly-operated programs and partner and delegate agencies in high-needs communities throughout Chicago and surrounding suburbs. In the fiscal year 2023, Start Early directly operated two programs at the Educare Chicago school at 5044 S Wabash Ave and Healthy Parents and Babies at 100 N Western Avenue, and subcontracted with 11 agencies at 21 geographically and racially diverse sites, serving more than 2,300 young children, pregnant women, and their families. |
Page down far enough and you will see the names of highly compensated employees including Ms Donna Iwanski. She is also listed as an employee of Bound DC in the previous story.
Keep paging down. The return shows $69,791,775 in government grants. Down farther is a list of organizations they gave money to. Many are in Illinois, but they do operate in many states.
The website is StartEarly.org
Their goal of early intervention is admirable, the results aren’t mentioned. Since most of their money came from taxpayers, we should know if what they do achieves any results.
Government never has to produce results. Laws are passed, funds are allocated, but nobody ever follows up to see if the govt actually had any positive impact on the original problem. In most cases govt just causes more problems.
Before the Great Society programs under Johnson, black people had a higher marriage rate and more intact families than whites did. Now look at the mess that majority black communities are in.