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Head Start's 50th Anniversary

Floor Speech

Date: Oct. 23, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: K-12 Education

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of our Nation's flagship program for young children: Head Start. October is National Head Start Awareness Month, and 2015 marks 50 years since the program's founding.

President Lyndon Johnson said Head Start would open up ``a new war front on poverty ..... to make certain that poverty's children would not be forevermore poverty's captives.''

I have the honor of counting the father of Head Start, Edward Zigler, among my constituents. When Professor Zigler recently went for surgery at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, he discovered that his anesthetist, Dr. John Paul Kim, was a Head Start alumnus. Dr. Kim credited his success in life directly to Head Start, and he is not alone.

Research proves that Head Start graduates are less likely to be held back a grade or to get into trouble with the law and are more likely to go on to college and professional careers.

But our work is not yet done. Head Start currently only has the resources to reach 4 in 10 eligible students. If we are serious about helping children thrive, we must meet this demand.

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