Recognizing the 58th Anniversary of the Head Start Program

Floor Speech

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Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 58th anniversary of the Head Start program and the invaluable services it makes available to children and families in need. The Head Start Project was launched in 1965 as a comprehensive child development program. President Lyndon Johnson commissioned Sargent Shriver with the establishment of a comprehensive program that would assist underserved communities in meeting the needs of preschool aged children. With the help of education, psychology. and child experts, the U.S. government initially launched ``Project Head Start'' as an eight-week summer program that reached 561,000 children. Finding early success, the program was expanded in the fall of 1965 to provide services throughout the entire school year. In the subsequent decades, Head Start has further grown to include bilingual and bicultural programs, as well as services for disadvantaged infants, toddlers, and pregnant women through Early Head Start grants.

Over the last six decades, the Head Start Program has provided a window of opportunity to more than 37 million vulnerable children and their families. Now serving nearly 1 million children and their families annually in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. territories. Head Start's exceptional dedication to our children is truly remarkable, and this year, as it celebrates its 58th anniversary, we express our appreciation for the impact that Head Start has had on communities across the country and especially in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

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