UPDATE - July 2:
All seven tribes in Nevada that utilizes the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada’s Head Start program will now be closed, despite the council saying back in May that would not be the case.
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Chairman, Steven Wadsworth released a statement about the closure.
Seven total tribes in the state that participate in the Head Start program will be impacted by the closure.
The program was managed by ITCN for decades.
Wadsworth said after “years of distress” in the program, ITCN forfeited the grant for Head Start.
The chairman says they tried to look for another agency to facilitate the grant, but were unable to achieve that.
The statement said that the Office of Head Start would not let each tribe take a share of the grant for and that it all had to be all combined into one.
Back in May, we covered this story after multiple tribes said the Head Start program would be closing earlier than expected.
ITCN released a statement after our story aired and claimed, the program was expected to be under new management starting in July and families would still be able to utilize service.
ITCN President Serrell Smokey sent another statement on Wednesday.
In it, it says that back in December, the council spoke with the Head Start office about the sustainability of the grant due to quote, "circumstances outside of the control of the ITCN executive board."
However, we received documents that showed, ITCN was at risk of losing the head start grant for years.
We sent a follow up email, and multiple text messages about what those circumstances were and we have not heard back.
The statement further details that the council looked to find other solutions but was unable to do so.
ITCN says it will continue to work with Head Start and federal partners to find an agency to administer the grant.
The council said impacted families should utilize the Child Care Development Fund program.
Pyramid lake is telling families with four year old’s that they can apply to the early childhood development program through Washoe County and three-year-old children can still use its Day Care centers.
The tribe says they won’t be able to apply for the grant until the 2027/2028 school year.
UPDATE - May 14:
In a statement released Wednesday on Facebook, the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada says it will continue running the Head Start program until the regular summer closing date in June.
The release also says the program is expected to be under new management starting in July with no interruption in service.
Read the full release below:
Previous Story
Newly leaked documents are revealing more about funding issues with the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada's Head Start Program.
ITCN is a nonprofit organization and governing body to the 28 Tribal Nations throughout the state of Nevada that works to deliver support and services to our Native communities.
The Head Start program helps children and families with a variety of services, including free meals and kindergarten readiness skills.
It aids about 220 children and their families across the state.
On the 'Our Programs' tab on the ITCN website, it's one of the several programs that do not have a hyperlink.
2 News Nevada broke a story last month about ITCN allegedly overdrawing about $1.6 million.
Recently, multiple tribes have released statements regarding the Head Start program.
About a week ago, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe announced it would have to close its program due to "unfortunate circumstances" beyond its control.
Then over the weekend, the Fallon Business Council for its Paiute Shoshone Tribe said it had known the ITCN Head Start program was facing termination due to compliance and financial issues at the organizational level.
The Head Start program is largely funded through federal grants.
The council thought the program would last until June, but got word that it would be closing in the coming days on May 14.
The tribe said it will commit its own funding to continue the program until 2027 while looking for future solutions, but other tribes may not be able to come up with that money
2 News Nevada received documents that detail the history of the issues with the program.
Back in 2024, a letter was sent to Serrell Smokey, ITCN Executive Board President.
In it, it says that after an audit was done from 2020 to 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said ITCN was at risk of failing due to financial instability.
The HHS said it would evaluate the program at that time, and if it felt ITCN was continuing to fall out of compliance, it would have to start competing for the money.
However, if during the reevaluation process, ITCN is deemed fully compliant, it would be able to continue to receive its five-year grant.
A full report of what HHS found was shared with us. It lists the areas where the program was succeeding and where it wasn't.
Some of the several issues listed included that ITCN was not sharing accurate program and fiscal information. Another centered around a lack of safety measures for children.
ITCN then tasked itself with improving these issues and showing its corrective actions back to the federal government.
A memo was then sent to the ITCN Board from the former ITCN Executive Director, Deserea Quintana, dated January 6, 2026.
In it, Quintana said that ITCN had corrected the issues.
The memo directly stated, "It has been communicated that ITCN has only two options: voluntary relinquishment of the Head Start grant or loss of future funding eligibility. This is incorrect."
Quintana presented a third option that she believed could retain and protect the grant.
Things took a turn when ITCN President Smokey called an emergency closed-door meeting to talk about the program on January 12.
A legal memorandum following that session was sent to the ITCN board, and it indicated that the grant was terminated in that meeting, and others were at risk as well.
Shortly after this, Quintana was no longer with ITCN.
ITCN said they would send us a statement, and after multiple follow-up emails and text messages, we have not heard back.
