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Policy Priority
Child Care and Early Learning Programs

Head Start & Early Head Start

Overview

Head Start is a federal program that delivers comprehensive early learning, health, nutrition, and family support services to families with children ages 3 through 5 who are experiencing poverty.

Serving over 37 million children, decades of research shows that participation in Head Start has both short- and long-term positive effects. Children who attend Head Start demonstrate marked academic and social progress, and are more likely to enter kindergarten ready to learn.

Early Head Start is a federally funded program that provides intensive, comprehensive child development and family support services to infants and toddlers under age 3, pregnant women, and their families experiencing poverty.

The program promotes children’s development and supports parents in their role as children’s first teachers and primary caregivers through a variety of services, including home visiting; parent engagement and support; high-quality child care; and nutrition, health, and behavioral health services.

Current Funding Level: Head Start and Early Head Start are funded at $12 billion (one appropriation for both programs) for FY2023, an increase of $960 million over FY2022.

Top
Resources

Resource

Head Start & Early Head Start: The Program Overview

March 1, 2023

Head Start is a federally funded program that delivers comprehensive early learning, health, nutrition, and family support services to children ages 3 through 5 experiencing  poverty and their families.

Resource

Report Demonstrates Inequitable Access to Head Start Services

December 9, 2022

The National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER) recently released “State[s] of Head Start and Early Head Start,” a report that focuses on access to Head Start and Early Head …

Resource

Congressional Briefing Highlights New Research on Early Head Start’s Impacts

September 23, 2022

On Wednesday, the National Head Start Association (NHSA) and the bipartisan Congressional Pre-K & Child Care Caucus hosted a briefing entitled “The Child and Family Impacts of Early Head Start …

Latest
Updates

US Capitol building
News

FFYF Co-Hosts Congressional Briefing Highlighting Importance of Federal ECE Funding

April 22, 2022

On Thursday, First Five Years Fund (FFYF), together with the National Head Start Association (NHSA), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and Child Care Aware of …

News

FY2022 Appropriations Omnibus Includes Increases for Existing Early Learning & Care Programs

March 9, 2022

Congressional leaders have unveiled a bipartisan FY2022 omnibus government spending package, which includes an increase in critical funding for the core federal early learning and care programs. Each year, millions …

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