Interesting Facts

Current Facts about Head Start

The Head Start program is administered by the Head Start Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Grants are awarded by the ACF Regional Offices and the Head Start Bureau's American Indian and Migrant Program Branches directly to local public agencies, private non-profit and for-profit organizations, Indian Tribes and school systems for the purpose of operating Head Start programs at the community level.

Since it began in 1965, the Head Start program has enrolled 20,302,000 children.

Current National Statistics

• Number of Grantees: 1,545
• Number of Centers: 18,735
• Number of Classrooms: 48,512
• Average cost per child: $6,633
• Paid Staff: 195,000
• Volunteers: 1,345,000

During the 2000-2001 operating period, nationally:

• 905,235 children were enrolled in Head Start, with an appropriation of $6,200,000,000
• 13 percent of the Head Start enrollment consisted of children with disabilities, (mental retardation, health impairments, visual handicaps, hearing impairments, emotional disturbances, speech and language impairments, orthopedic handicaps and learning disabilities).
• 46,500 children participated in home-based Head Start program services.
• 29 percent of Head Start program staff members are parents of current or former Head Start children. Over 827,000 parents volunteered in their local Head Start program.
• 77 percent of Head Start families had an annual income of less than $15,000 per year.
• Head Start programs are encouraged to use non-Head Start resources in their communities for Head Start children and their families.
• 59 percent of Head Start children were enrolled in the Medicaid/Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program which pays for their medical and dental services.
• The 1994 reauthorization of the Head Start Act established a new Early Head Start program for low-income families with infants, toddlers and pregnant women.
• In Fiscal Year 2001, $557,983,000 was used to support nearly 650 programs to provide Early Head Start child development and family support services in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These programs served more than 55,000 children under the age of three.