Why Do we Need Head Start?

• Invest now, benefit later. High-quality early childhood care, education and family services pay off in a myriad of benefits to children, their families and society as a whole.

• Comprehensive programs. Research demonstrates that academic readiness and social/emotional development all affect a child's readiness for school. Head Start's programs address all those areas.

• Research shows first years critical. Research shows that children's experiences have a dramatic effect on how they approach life in later years.

• Patterns form early. Brain research also indicates 90 percent of the brain develops by age 3, and concepts of compassion, conscience and personal responsibility are established by age 4.

• Preschool predicts success. Research clearly shows that children who attend preschool are more literate, more educated and have fewer social problems.

• Low income families need Head Start. To quality for Head Start, families must be below federal poverty guidelines. That means, for instance, a family of four can make no more than $17,650 annually--that's less than minimum wage for two wage earners.

• Low-income children are at risk without Head Start. Without Head Start, low-income children would miss the opportunity to learn and grow in preschool and would be at much greater risk for academic and social difficulties later in life.