What Is Head Start?

Head Start is a federally funded program that provides no cost comprehensive services to pregnant women and children ages birth to 5 and their families who:

• Meet income eligibility requirements
• Have identified disabilities, such as physical and developmental delays
• Are in foster care
• Are experiencing homelessness

Head Start services include early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent, family, and community engagement. 

Head Start emphasizes the role of parents as their child's first teacher and assists families in achieving their goals for education, employment, and housing by providing links to other community services.

To provide Head Start children and their families with high quality services, we hire the most qualified staff and then provide initial and ongoing intensive training and professional development. Transform classrooms and playgrounds into safe, fun and welcoming environments. We equip our teachers with research-based curriculums and classroom materials that help stimulate young minds and activate little hands and bodies.

October is Head Start Awareness Month, and it hopes to bring awareness to this critical program that benefits millions of families and children in the United States. Head Start assists children belonging to low-income families by providing them with a framework meeting their psychosocial, emotional, nutritional, and health needs. Children are given a boost until the age of five, easing the pressure on their families.

Save the Children has been operating Head Start and Early Head Start programs since 2011.

Currently, we administer Head Start and Early Head Start programs in rural communities in six states – Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana.

As a Head Start provider that focuses exclusively on rural America, we are proud to build early childhood development capacity in communities that need it most.

Are you interested in working in a Save the Children Head Start program? Check out career opportunities here!

Early education is a game-changer for kids. It helps them do better in school. It means they're more likely to graduate. Less likely to live in poverty or rely on public assistance when they’re older. Ultimately, it helps kids achieve their full potential in life.

Head Start programs serve over 750,000 children from low-income backgrounds.

In rural communities, Head Start is often the only reliable source of child care – providing early learning as well as nutritious meals and medical, dental and mental health services to children and families. 

Take action with the Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) and urge Congress to protect Head Start today.