[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E774-E775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PROJECT HEAD START

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 2015

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as the author of H. Res. 92 and the Co-
Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, it is with great pride 
and deep appreciation for the opportunities this great nation affords 
to its citizens that I rise to commemorate the 50th anniversary of 
Project Head Start, one of the signal achievements of the Great Society 
and boldest initiatives launched by the nation in the War on Poverty.
  Launched in the White House Rose Garden on May 18, 1965, by President 
Lyndon Baines Johnson, the aim of Project Head Start was bold and 
audacious in its scope and design.
  As President Johnson stated in announcing the opening of a new front 
in the War on Poverty with the launch of Project Head Start:
  ``We set out to make certain that poverty's children would not be 
forevermore poverty's captives. . . .
  ``This means that nearly half the preschool children of poverty will 
get a head start on their future. . . .
  ``These children will receive preschool training to prepare them for 
regular school in September. . . .
  ``They will get medical and dental attention that they badly need, 
and parents will receive counseling on improving the home 
environment.''
  Conceived as an eight-week summer program designed to provide pre-
school training not just to prepare 5 and 6 year-olds to enter regular 
school the following September, but also to give nearly half the 
preschool children living in poverty ``a head start on their future.''
  At its launch, the Head Start Program, administered by the Office of 
Economic Opportunity and wonderfully and skillfully led by its 
Director, Sargent Shriver, consisted of 2,500 projects, covering 11,000 
Child Development Centers, serving about 530,000 poor children in every 
state of the Union.
  Mr. Speaker, President Johnson recognized that the bleak future 
waiting for children trapped in poverty was not a phenomenon 
concentrated in the inner-cities of the large urban cities of the North 
but could be found in every region in every state in the nation.
  That is why the Head Start Program was launched not as a mere 
demonstration project limited to a handful of counties, but as a 
program national in scope serving every city, suburb, and rural area in 
the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, the Head Start Program provided pre-school training to 
prepare poor children to enter regular school and help put them on an 
even footing with their classmates as they entered school.
  But it also had an even higher aim and loftier purpose, and that was 
to assist children prepare for the challenges they will face in life 
and to combat poverty's great weapons--hunger and malnutrition; illness 
and poor health; ignorance and cultural deprivation.
  Project Head Start was from the start a national undertaking, 
utilizing the services of 41,000 professionals, including teachers, 
doctors, dentists, nurses, nutritionists, employing more than 47,000 
persons, who were assisted by more than 500,000 volunteers.
  Based on its initial success as a summer program, the following year, 
in 1966, Head Start was funded as a primarily part day, 9 month 
program, largely through existing community action programs.
  In later years, the Head Start Program would be expanded to serve 
children with disabilities, Native Americans, homeless children, and to 
provide bilingual and bicultural migrant and seasonal programs serving 
6,000 children in 21 states.
  Today, the Head Start Program serves nearly a million poor children, 
including: 160,829 enrolled in Early Head Start for 3-year olds; 
910,833 enrolled in Head Start; 20,627 American Indian/Alaska Native 
children enrolled in Head Start; 4,722 American Indian/Alaska Native 
children enrolled in Early Head Start; 32,082 children of migrant or 
seasonal workers enrolled in Head Start; and 40,853 homeless children 
enrolled in Head Start.
  Additionally, the Head Start Program serves 136,120 children with 
disabilities, 15,632 pregnant women, and provides services to 771,840 
families.
  In my home state of Texas, the Head Start Program serves 661,000 poor 
children under the age of 5, including 2,471 homeless children, 8,370 
children with disabilities, and provides services to 53,333 families.
  And in my home city of Houston, a remarkable organization called 
AVANCE has been serving the needs of low-income children and families 
since its founding in 1973.
  AVANCE offers Head Start, Early Head Start, Parenting, Healthy 
Marriage, Fatherhood, and other programs designed to prepare and help 
low-income children, students, and families reach their potential.
  Mr. Speaker, not only has the Head Start Program been a great benefit 
to its direct beneficiaries, it has provided substantial economic and 
social benefits to the nation as a whole.
  Research studies have shown that for each dollar invested, the Head 
Start program yields a rate of return on investment (ROI) of 7-9 
percent and the program is responsible for the direct creation of 
236,591 jobs, with an average annual salary of about $31,000 for Head 
Start teachers with baccalaureate degrees.
  Mr. Speaker, another societal benefit of the Head Start Program is 
the improved health of the children and families it serves.
  Research has shown that the mortality rates for 5-9 year-old children 
who had attended Head Start are 33-50% lower than the rates for 
comparable children not enrolled in Head Start.
  Moreover, Head Start children are less likely to fall victim to 
childhood obesity and are at least 8% more likely to have had their 
immunizations than children who did not attend preschool.
  Mr. Speaker, the Head Start Program has been an unqualified success 
for the more than 31 million children and parents it has served since 
its inception in 1965.
  And so it is that we can look back with pride on the 50 year record 
of this bold and innovative program.
  But we cannot yet be satisfied because our work is not done and will 
not be done until every eligible child is afforded the opportunity to 
get a head start in life the program provides.
  Today, only 42 percent of eligible low-income preschoolers are 
actually served by Head Start and less than 4 percent are in Early Head 
Start.
  But we should not let the fact that we have more work to do to 
strengthen the Head Start Program detract from the joy and happiness we 
are justified in deriving from its half century of success and its 
vindication of our optimistic belief in the capacity of Americans to 
solve pressing national problems when people of goodwill work together 
in the spirit of cooperation rather than conflict.
  The record of the Head Start Program shows that it can be done and 
that President Johnson was right--the Head Start Program was and is 
``one of the most constructive, and one of the most sensible, and also 
one of the most exciting programs that this Nation has ever 
undertaken.''
  And its reward for this bold act is the collective service and 
contributions to the betterment of society made by the 31 million 
children that have been served by the program over the past 50 years.
  I thank the 100 colleagues who co-sponsored H. Res. 92, and 
especially the 65 members who joined me as original cosponsors of the 
resolution.

[[Page E775]]

  I also wish to express my thanks and appreciation to Chelsea Ukoha 
and Gregory Berry of my staff for their exceptional efforts and work on 
this wonderful tribute to a program that has contributed so much to the 
richness and vitality of our country.

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