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Take Action - Protect Head Start!

Contact your Member to make sure they know that eliminating Head Start would be catastrophic for the millions of children and families who rely on it.

Lifelong Gains

Investing in early childhood education creates upward mobility by providing all children with a solid foundation for long-term success in life. These benefits do not end with one child but extend to their entire families and communities in the years to come. 

Here are five things to know about child care and lifelong gains.

  1. Studies show that access to quality early learning programs can reduce educational and opportunity gaps between children from low and high-income families at kindergarten entry. Kindergarten readiness is a key predictor of a child’s long-term academic success.
  2. Children participating in high-quality early learning programs have higher graduation rates. Attending early learning programs is linked to a 6% increase in high school graduation and a 5.5% increase in attendance at a four-year college. 
  3. Adults who had quality early childhood education as children are more likely to be employed full-time, own a home, and have a savings account.
  4. Adults who participated in high-quality early education programs as children, like Head Start saw long-term health benefits, including reduced rates of depression, alcohol and tobacco use, and cardiovascular disease.
  5. Research shows that Head Start improves the parenting practices of parents while their child is attending the program, as well as their own children decades later. Supportive parental involvement contributes to a child’s long term success in school and life.

Learn more:

News

FFYF Joins Groups in Calling for Increased Funding for Early Childhood Mental Health

April 16, 2019

FFYF joined with other advocates to call for additional funding for the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Grant Program. The letter calls on leaders of the Subcommittees on Labor, …

News

NBC Nightly News: Head Start is a Bipartisan Success Story

April 10, 2019

NBC Nightly News aired a heartwarming segment on the undeniable success of the Head Start program, highlighting how the program is giving children in poverty a chance to develop the …

Resource

Strengthening Child Care Tax Incentives to Support Working Families

March 11, 2019

Child care is not a luxury for American families—it’s a necessity. Yet the costs associated with quality child care are rapidly out-pacing most other expenses faced by families, including the …

News

FFYF Letter to White House Workforce Policy Advisory Board

March 5, 2019

In February of 2019, the White House announced the creation of a Workforce Policy Advisory Board, tasked with advising Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Adviser to the President Ivanka Trump on …

Resource

State of Babies 2019 Yearbook Examines Policies Supporting Infants & Toddlers Nationwide

February 28, 2019

Earlier this week, ZERO TO THREE and Child Trends released a new policy resource that examines policies supporting infants and toddlers nationwide. The resource entitled, The State of Babies Yearbook: …

Resource

One Year after MIECHV Reauthorization, Advocates Look to a Bright Future for Successful Home Visiting Services

February 8, 2019

Tomorrow, the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program celebrates the first anniversary of its bipartisan reauthorization, which extended the program through Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 at a …

Resource

Study Shows Head Start Reduces Likelihood of Adult Poverty

January 2, 2019

A new study from the University of Michigan found that Head Start has positive long-term impacts on both higher education attainment and economic self-sufficiency. Researchers used longitudinal data from children …

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