Empowerment could see funding cuts Posted By: Ben Butler March 25, 2009 @ 6:56 am Today's Local News Tweet Share Email Iowa's fledgling financial situation could mean some rather drastic cuts for certain early childhood programs. Tasha Beghtol with Washington County Empowerment, says her organization could be looking at a nearly 15-percent cut in state funding. She says no decisions have been made as to what areas would suffer due to such cuts. Empowerment covers a wide array of early childhood needs from education to healthcare. Beghtol says locally, the organization provides things like the Parents as Teachers program, dental programs and preschool scholarships.