What Is Head Start?

Head Start is a national child development program for children from birth to age 5, which provides services to promote academic, social and emotional development, as well as providing social, health and nutrition services for income-eligible families.

Goals

To enhance children's physical, social, emotional and cognitive development

To enable parents to be better caregivers and teachers to their children

To help parents meet their own goals, including economic independence

History

Head Start was established in 1965 to help low-income families provide their children with developmentally appropriate education, health and social services to better prepare them to achieve in school and society.

Initially, Head Start served preschool children 3-5.

Early Head Start (EHS) was created in 1994 to target the needs of pregnant women, infants and toddlers, thereby fostering positive development at even earlier stages

Funding

Head Start is funded by the United States Congress and administered through the Department of Health and Human Services.

Statistics

Head Start has served more than 18 million children and their families.

Currently there are more than 1,500 Head Start programs and 16,000 sites nationwide.

In Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska), Head Start served more than 38,000 children and their families 2000-2001.