News from rural America.

DOGE guts a 30-year-old national service program, cuts are likely but Head Start may be spared elimination in the next budget, moms are the most vulnerable when extreme weather hits, and there's a croaking sound coming from rural California.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

DOGE budget cuts to America's premier agency for national service will leave rural gaps.

Julia Tilton reports.

AmeriCorps grants have been slashed by more than $400 million, including $12 million for rural areas in Colorado managed by Lieutenant Governor Diane Primavera.

She says AmeriCorps volunteers in small-town schools, libraries and food banks often go into public service as teachers or wildland firefighters.

"Losing these programs isn't just a budget issue, it's a community resilience issue."

Colorado's Montezuma School to Farm Project in Cortez depends on AmeriCorps members to teach classes and grow 6,000 pounds of food a year for the food pantry.

Sorrel Redford is the project's education director.

"There's like this whole trickle-down effect.

If we can't grow the food, we can't get it to the food bank, they won't have fresh food to give out."

I'm Julia Tilton.

The Trump administration's budget for next year cuts funding for preschool and early child care education programs.

Although the Head Start program was not named directly, it could be affected by proposed cuts.

Jessica Laura leads Head Start in four rural Washington counties.

She says the ways it helped her disabled child changed both of their lives.

"I was a Head Start mom.

My son was in Head Start.

I would not be where I am today without the services that Head Start provided in our rural communities."

Dismantling Head Start would affect a million American children, nearly half of them from rural families, and close thousands of child care and early education centers.

Extreme weather like hurricanes, floods and wildfires are becoming more destructive and put pregnant women and their unborn children at greatest risk. 2024's Hurricane Helene was the deadliest Atlantic storm in seven years.

The Daily Yonder's Sarah Mallott says lower income and rural moms were particularly vulnerable.

"Some of the women that we interviewed in South Georgia didn't have a way to store breast milk.

They lost food from their fridges."

Many faced diaper and formula shortages and had difficulty reaching their doctors.

Mallott says providers report those patients have struggled with their mental health.

"The more trauma a pregnant or postpartum woman faces in an extreme weather event, the more likely she is to experience postpartum depression or anxiety."

Finally, they'll be hootin' and hollerin' in rural California this month when the Jumping Frog Jubilee kicks off at the Calaveras County Fair.

A Mark Twain short story inspired the century-old event.

Human jockeys stationed behind their locally caught bullfrog are allowed to stomp, scream and clap, but not touch their croaker.

Many aim to break the record 22-foot jump set in 1986 by Rosie the Ribbiter.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.