NHSA Presents Head Start PROMISE Award to Rep. Yoder

Press Release

This morning, the National Head Start Association (NHSA) presented Representative Kevin Yoder with the 2015 Head Start Protecting Opportunities for our Most Important Students Early (PROMISE) Award. Representative Yoder received the award at NHSA's annual Winter Leadership Institute Breakfast on Capitol Hill.

The Head Start Program is celebrating its 50th anniversary since being launched by President Lyndon Johnson's Office of Economic Opportunity in 1965. President Nixon made the program permanent by transferring it to the Office of Child Development in the Department of Health and Human Services in 1969. Today, the program continues to provide comprehensive early childhood education and nutrition services to low-income families. As of 2013 in Kansas, 8,130 enrollees are supported by a little over $56 million in funding annually.

NHSA created the PROMISE Award to celebrate this important anniversary and recognize the bipartisan spirit that has kept Head Start strong for 50 years. Yoder is one of the inaugural recipients of the award.

"Being chosen as one of the first recipients for this new award is a great honor, but the real heroes of early childhood education are the teachers who make sure that all children have the opportunity to see their dreams become reality," Yoder said. "I've seen firsthand at schools in my district that Head Start is a vital program that invests in our children's future by providing them an avenue to a good education that may not be there otherwise. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I've worked hard to show my colleagues the value of early childhood education, so that it remains a top priority."

Yoder sits on the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees all federal funding for Head Start. Additionally, he frequently visits Head Start programs and centers throughout the Third District, reading to students and visiting with parents and administrators. In October during Head Start Awareness month, children and teachers from Growing Futures Early Education Center, formally known as Head Start of Shawnee Mission, visited and delivered their art work to the Congressman.

"It has been a priority of our organization to ensure our federal, state, and local elected officials understand the need in our community and the comprehensive services Head Start offers low income children and families," Executive Director Terrie VanZandt-Travis said. "Congressman Yoder has visited our program multiple times. He has read books to our children and met with parents both in Overland Park and Washington, DC to gain further insight about how to support their need for self-sufficiency. He and his Overland Park staff welcome our parents and children to his office for visits - even if those visits create a bit of chaos with sixteen 3, 4 and 5-year olds delivering art work to his office. We truly appreciate his awareness that there are those less fortunate living in Johnson County, and how important early education is to the long-term success of all children, no matter their family's income level."

In 2012, Yoder received the Head Start Kansas State Children's Champion Award from the Region VII Head Start Association in Kansas City.

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