Or are you the parent of a successful former Head Start student? If so, The National Head Start Association wants to hear your story. On March 30 they launched a
new website called I Got a Head Start.org.
NHSA president Sarah Greene summarized the purpose of the new website as follows:
Our goal is to give a voice to what until now has been a silent powerhouse of the 20 million former students - and millions more parent volunteers - blessed by the experience of going through Head Start. Even as Head Start celebrates its 40th anniversary today, it faces challenges. Our success stories are spread across every strata of American life and they are in unique positions to make the case for Head Start. So, we are encouraging all Head Start graduates, volunteer parents and other concerned citizens to step forward, tell their stories and get involved to ensure that this vital program is still able to transform the lives of future children who otherwise would lose out on the hopes, dreams and opportunities that we can help to open up for them.
The website currently features stories from NFL superstar Deion Sanders, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a Georgetown University professor, a children's book author, a White House helicopter pilot, the executive editor of a major New York newspaper, a decorated Air Force officer who conducted 300 top-secret reconnaissance missions after 9/11, and others.
Greene calls their 20 million former students a "silent powerhouse."
I am not a Head Start alumna, nor did my chilren have the benefit of this wonderfully effective program. I only know, through my work as a substance abuse prevention specialist, that Head Start, in preparing children to be successful in school, has been one of the most effective prevention programs ever. With a 40 year track record, the evidence of their effectiveness is unassailable.
Yet, as noted on this new website:
...some members of Congress want to end the 40-year success story of Head Start by dismantling the program and sending the funding to all or some states in the form of block grants. However, this process inevitably would result in a lowering of the high educational and comprehensive standards of the Head Start program, directly jeopardizing its proven results. For example, some states already have indicated they would want to strip out the requirements for health services that are essential to a poor child in Head Start actually being able to learn in school. Turning over the responsibility for the Head Start to states - some of which have no quality standards in their early childhood education programs or, in a few instances, even a bad track record - would be a huge setback for the one million at-risk children who now benefit from the program every year.
Statistics may prove the case for Head Start, but as Ronald Reagan knew, stories about real people living in our own communities carry much more weight in affecting public opinion than dry numbers ever can.
Ten thousand human faces behind ten thousand human stories is what Head Start is asking for.
If you could be one of those faces, I urge you to go to this website and enter your story there.
Thanks.
