[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7618]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CELEBRATING 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HEAD START

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                         HON. G. K. BUTTERFIELD

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 20, 2015

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate and celebrate 
Head Start on its 50th year of service to children and families. Fifty 
years ago yesterday, President Lyndon Johnson stood in the White House 
Rose Garden and announced the creation of Head Start.
  This pioneering federal program became a foundation of his historic 
anti-poverty plan. Head Start was designed to ensure that children from 
low-income families had access to a quality early childhood education.
  This program has long served as a catalyst for long-term educational 
achievement and is considered the nation's premier school readiness 
program.
  Head Start recognizes that parents are the initial and most important 
educators in their child's life and works to inspire and support 
affirmative parental involvement with their children.
  In addition to building strong parent-child relationships, Head Start 
along with Early Head Start, provides extensive services to promote 
strong mental, social, and emotional development in children from birth 
to age five.
  Head Start also provides children and their families with health 
screenings and nutritional education, among other integral services. 
The services offered to our communities by Head Start are copious and 
invaluable.
  Evidence-based studies have shown Head Start to be tremendously 
effective at promoting academic success in school, avoiding crime, and 
fostering the development of productive, successful leaders.
  Head Start is one of the longest running programs in the United 
States whose mission is to address systemic poverty, and it has indeed 
yielded impressive results.
  In just 2014, Head Start served over 20,000 children and families in 
North Carolina alone, including nearly 5,000 in my congressional 
district. Since its creation 50 years ago, more than 32 million 
children and families have reaped the benefits of Head Start.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in congratulating Head 
Start for 50 years of service and enrichment to our nation's children 
and their families. Its involvement in the lives of our young people is 
exceptionally significant and deserving of our sincere appreciation.

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