Head Start Celebrates 25 Years of Supporting America’s Most Vulnerable Babies and Pregnant Women
By Buck McKeon, Former Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education and Workforce Committee
During my twenty-two years as a Member of Congress, I had the privilege of serving as the House of Representatives chair of both the Education and the Workforce Committee and the Armed Services Committee. In those capacities, I regularly made judgments about the value of investments in our country’s future and its security which taxpayers make through their government. I learned that the best investments we make through our government evolve over time to meet changing needs and new challenges. Head Start — the comprehensive early childhood development program that partners with families and communities to break the stranglehold of poverty — is an excellent example of this.
25 years ago this month, Head Start took a major step in its evolution. Under the direction of the Education and the Workforce Committee, the Head Start program was challenged to reach a whole new population of vulnerable Americans: at-risk infants and pregnant women. Consistent with Head Start’s fundamental American value that all children — regardless of their circumstances at birth — deserve the opportunity to succeed, expansion through the Early Head Start initiative was a recognition that major research indicated early intervention can have a dramatic impact on the life trajectories of children.
Head Start, which celebrates its 54th birthday this month, has a legacy of giving children from at-risk backgrounds the skills they need to be successful in school and life. From early math and reading lessons to social-emotional abilities like confidence and resilience, Head Start’s holistic approach supports children on their paths to success. The Head Start model engages families as equal partners in both their children’s development and in meeting their own personal goals. And individual Head Start programs work closely with their surrounding communities to adapt to what each area needs. These essential elements — a whole-child, whole-family approach tailored to unique community needs — are the foundation of Head Start’s strength in disrupting intergenerational poverty.
With the creation of Early Head Start in 1994, Head Start became a continuum of critical services for children from birth until age 5, offering a stable and nurturing place for them to develop and learn. With bipartisan support, Head Start has grown to serve more than one million children and families per year. And those proud Head Start alumni — some 36 million and counting — are successful professionals in every field, living testaments to the power of the Head Start Advantage.
Like any good idea, Head Start is continuing to evolve. In recent years, the scourge of substance use disorders — including opioid addiction — and other traumatic conditions have spread to communities throughout our nation. Yet in almost every impacted community, there is a local Head Start program currently providing prevention and intervention treatment to babies, young children, and their families, applying critical principles of trauma-informed care. Through mental health consultations, individualized care, health screenings, and referrals, Head Start programs are successfully reducing the effects of trauma on their young charges. At the same time, these community-embedded programs connect families with mental health services, educational resources, employment, and economic opportunities — critical factors that can help those recovering from addiction to change the trajectory of their lives.
After more than five decades of changing communities and lives, Head Start is still innovating to meet new challenges. Americans should celebrate its legacy of success and continue promoting new ways to evolve this powerful tool for combating poverty.
