Navigating government shutdowns: planning ahead

0:00So recently we did have a couple government shutdowns, one that lasted quite a long time, and we were trying to figure out how we're going to finance our Head Start operations — and thankfully we already had those plans in place. We knew what we were going to do because we knew that it could be a possibility. It's happened before and it can happen again. So navigating that is all about planning ahead. I would say making sure that you consider maybe not the absolute worst, but at least find a middle ground of bad and figure out how you're going to cover yourself in the event that that happens.

0:30Okay, let me ask tangibly: how much surplus do you keep for that kind of scenario? — So, until recently, we had not actually had much surplus. We did rely quite a lot on having a line of credit to back us up financially. We have started to build up our reserves a little bit, so that's good. But we're 92 to 97% federally funded, which means we have to justify how every single dollar is spent.