About Head Start
Ceremony for National Head Start Day on June 30, 1965, at the White House. Front row, right to left: Sargent Shriver, who spearheaded the program as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity; Lou Maginn, director of a Head Start project in Vermont; Lady Bird Johnson; entertainer Danny Kaye; and Mr. Shriver’s sons Robert Shriver and Timothy Shriver.
-The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library-File
For more than 55 years, Head Start has provided high-quality early education and comprehensive services to vulnerable children and families. Head Start and Early Head Start serve pregnant women and children birth to age 5 from low-income families. Programs provide early education and comprehensive services, including health, mental health, nutrition, services for children with disabilities, and family services.
It began in 1964…
The idea for Head Start was originally conceived by a task force that recommended the development of a federally sponsored program to help disadvantaged preschool children get ready for school. In addition to services for children, the program was designed to assist families to become economically self-sufficient and provide opportunities for parents to help plan and run their local programs. In 1965, the Office of Economic Opportunity launched Project Head Start as an eight-week summer program. Congress expanded the program later that year. In 1994 Early Head Start was established to include infants, toddlers and pregnant women.
Since its origin, Head Start has continued to grow and is now available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands and Pacific Insular Areas. Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Massachusetts serve over 11,000 young children each year.