Head Start

Head Start is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. Established in 1965 as part of the “War on Poverty,” Head Start has become the flagship national program for three- to five-year-olds and remains the largest funded program among an array of federal early childhood education and care programs, according to the U.S. Government Accounting Office. The history of Carnegie Corporation’s advocacy on behalf of young children’s care and education is closely intertwined with that of Head Start. Throughout the 1960s, the Corporation supported research that proved crucial in securing and safeguarding federal funds for that groundbreaking program. Since its inception, Head Start has enrolled more than 27 million children.