Since 1964, Head Start programs have been a lifeline for generations of women and their families, providing free, high-quality education, health, social-emotional and nutritional services that were long closed to them. It opened the door to opportunity and economic justice. As we approach Head Start’s 60th anniversary, it’s a great time to reflect on all the program’s accomplishments and look forward to what our country could be like if Head Start was strengthened. When Head Start first began, it was said to be not just an innovation, but an invention, and groundbreaking in that respect. President Lyndon Johnson, a former one-room school teacher, believed strongly that education was the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, and Head Start was one of the early elements of his administration’s War on Poverty. there were.
He mobilized the full power of government to break the generational cycle of poverty and promoted a social justice agenda in areas where educational opportunities were denied based on race. Naturally, this intersects with issues of economic justice for women. Marian Wright Edelman, the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi State Bar and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, said: It was the follow-up and aftermath that were most important. As a result, many independent people began to obtain work outside of plantation organizations, bypassing state organizations. I couldn’t get any work there other than as a janitor. And we created this Head Start program, and those 3,000 people joined many of the hundreds of elected officials today. That was the next step in trying to build a movement. ” The experts, scientists, and officials who created Head Start believe that children who are physically or mentally unwell or hungry cannot learn, and make health and nutrition essential to Head Start. element.
To date, Head Start has served nearly 40 million children from birth to age five (about twice the population of New York) and their families. In 2023, this will include more than 833,000 children and pregnant women in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Head Start protects the healthy development of children living in poverty, frees parents to pursue education and employment, and opens the door to middle-class security. Additionally, Head Start is an essential component of the path to universal pre-K, and many states have integrated Head Start programs into their state pre-K systems. But not everyone sees it that way, and some advocate eliminating Head Start from state and federal funding. This would significantly reduce the number of children enrolled in preschool, reduce available childcare slots, raise childcare costs for poor families, hinder economic growth, and widen income inequality. Approximately 68% of children under the age of six have both parents who are able to work, making access to childcare services necessary for both families and the national economy. Lack of access to reliable, affordable infant and young child care is estimated to cost $122 billion each year in lost income, productivity, and tax revenue.
Childcare is a job that supports all other jobs. Mothers who take on most caregiving roles have a choice between reducing their paid work hours and staying home to care for their children, or arranging childcare as the cost of childcare may be so high that it may not be worth continuing to work. There are too many things that are forced upon us. Childcare fees can be a “tax” on wages. For every hour a single mother works, she must pay someone else to care for her child. Head Start helps women save money, connect them to a support network of other parents and providers, and help them move up the economic ladder. At a time when most Americans live in child care deserts with an insufficient supply of licensed child care centers, women cannot afford to lose the network of hundreds of thousands of child care centers and services provided by Head Start. This is especially true in rural communities. A 2018 study of 10 states (Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, and Texas) found that Head Start programs provided 22% of all rural child care supply. It turns out that this includes multiple childcare facilities. -One-third of center-based child care in Georgia counties and more than 40% in Michigan’s frontier counties (counties with a population density of less than 6 people per square mile).
Rising childcare costs are taking a toll on women’s economic security every day. The national average child care cost in 2023 was $11,582. For families at the poverty level of Head Start’s income eligibility criteria, this is equivalent to 38.6% of income, more than five times the government’s standard for families to be able to pay for child care. Numerous studies have investigated the long-term benefits that Head Start children and their families receive in terms of health, education, child care, high school graduation rates, college participation, employment, income, and more. shows. One study found a positive impact on the children of Head Start graduates. The numbers are clear and the facts are clear. Head Start is a great example of government working for women and children. It must be protected, strengthened and expanded.
Christian F. Nunez is president of the National Organization for Women
