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May 2025 marks six decades of Head Start, a federally funded anti-poverty program that provides high-quality early care and learning at no cost to income-eligible families. According to the North Carolina Head Start Association, our state is home to 59 Head Start grantees, employing 6,304 people, and funding 21,267 child care slots.
Head Start programs are offered through local schools, nonprofits, and community organizations in all 50 states, most U.S. territories, and many Tribal nations at no cost to families, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Head Start focuses on family involvement, offering parent and caregiver support such as job training, housing assistance, and parenting coaching. Parents also take leading roles at Head Start programs as classroom volunteers or serving on policy councils.
About 750,000 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers will receive Head Start services this year, the press release says, and more than half of programs are in rural communities, where early care and learning opportunities can be especially hard to find.
“I am committed to protecting the promise of Head Start, as envisioned by my uncle who created the program 60 years ago,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “And I will ensure that the next generation of families living in poverty have access to this vital program that offers what they need to thrive.”
Kennedy’s uncle, Sargent Shriver, helped create Head Start and numerous other anti-poverty programs as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”
The secretary’s statement of support comes after the White House reversed course on a budget proposal that would have eliminated funding for Head Start entirely.
A press release from the National Head Start Association (NHSA) focused on the program’s long history of positive outcomes for children and families:
Since its founding in 1965, Head Start has transformed the lives of more than 40 million children and families across the nation, providing comprehensive early learning and child care, better health and nutrition, and parent involvement services to eligible families across the United States… For six decades and 11 administrations, Head Start has had a proven impact including children who are better prepared for kindergarten, graduate from high school and college, and experience long-term health benefits.
The NHSA celebrated this milestone with the release of an interactive map called “The Voices of Head Start.” According to the press release, the map was designed as a living archive of stories from every state to capture the program’s impact. Journalists interviewed 60 members of the Head Start community — including two North Carolinians.
- Listen here to Juanita Yancey of Manson speak about her mother — who quit a domestic service job to become one of the first Head Start teachers — and how she is carrying on that legacy.
- Listen here to Tiffney Marley of Hillsborough share how her great-grandmother, whose parents were enslaved, lived to see Marley benefit from the educational opportunities provided by Head Start.
The NHSA also encourages individuals to share their own stories for inclusion on the map.
“For 60 years, Head Start has been more than a program — it’s been a promise. A promise that every child, no matter their circumstances, deserves the foundation to thrive,” said Yasmina Vinci, executive director for the NHSA. “From boosting lifelong health and learning to strengthening families and fueling local economies, Head Start transforms potential into progress — one child, one family, and one community at a time.”
