[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Page 27616]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 27616]]

                 IN HONOR OF HEAD START AWARENESS MONTH

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to join with thousands 
of Americans who this month are celebrating Head Start Awareness Month.
  There are few federal programs like Head Start. Since its creation in 
1965, this marvelous program has provided comprehensive education, 
health, social and nutritional services to over 17 million young 
children and their families. Today, over 835,000 children are involved 
in Head Start, benefitting from the commitment of nearly 170,000 staff 
people and just over 2,000 Head Start agencies nationwide.
  Head Start is clearly much more than a program. It is a community 
organized around the principle that we must together take care of our 
young children. Head Start brings together parents, teachers and others 
in the community to support young children and meet their needs. 
Sometimes that means health screenings and eye glasses; other times it 
means linking a parent up with job training services. The actions are 
diverse but the effects are the same--enriching and improving the 
child's life.
  Next year, we will celebrate the 35th anniversary of this powerful 
program. And there is clearly much to celebrate. The anniversary will 
also provide us with an appropriate opportunity to reflect on Head 
Start and consider how to continue to promote, improve and expand this 
crucial program. In some ways, we began this process last year with the 
enactment of the 1998 Head Start reauthorization bill. This legislation 
increased support for additional staff training and professional 
development, authorized further research into the long term benefits of 
Head Start, improved program accountability measures, and expanded 
Early Head Start to serve more infants and toddlers, laying a strong 
foundation for Head Start in the next century.
  However, I believe there remains unfinished business with Head Start. 
Most notably, the program still serves just 40 percent of those 
eligible. The President has proposed the laudable goal of serving one 
million children by 2002--but I think we must do more. We must also 
look to Head Start for further models of how to serve young children. 
For the last 35 years, the program has been a laboratory for the 
development of practices that are now commonplace in child care and 
preschool programs across the country. We must continue to build on the 
success of Head Start to better serve Head Start children as well as 
other young children.
  One of our key partners in this effort is the National Head Start 
Association (NHSA). This organization is the voice of Head Start, 
representing parents, children and staff. Beyond being an active 
advocate for young children and Head Start, NHSA is focused on a strong 
and vibrant future for Head Start, providing technical assistance, 
professional development opportunities, training tools and policy 
guidance to programs across the country. I am honored to join with NHSA 
and all in the Head Start community to celebrate Head Start Awareness 
Month--October 1999.

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