In 1964, the Federal Government asked a
panel of child development experts to draw up a program
to help communities meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool
children. This panel report became the blueprint for Project
Head Start.
Project Head Start,
launched as an eight-week summer program by the Office
of Economic Opportunity in 1965, was designed to help
break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children
of low-income families with a comprehensive program to
meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and
psychological needs. Recruiting children age three to
school entry age, Head Start was enthusiastically received
by education and child development specialists, community
leaders and parents across the Nation. Head Start serves
children and their families each year in urban and rural
areas in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico, and the U.S. Territories, including many American
Indians and migrant children.
In 1969, Head Start was transferred from the Office of
Economic Opportunity to the Office of Child Development
in the U.S.Department of Health, Education and Welfare,
and has now become a program within the Administration
of Children and Families in the Department
of Health and Human Services.
A well-established, though still an innovative program,
Head Start has had a strong impact on communities and
early childhood programs across the country.
The program is locally administered by community-based
non-profit organizations and school systems. Grants are
awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services.
