Original Creator of Head Start Dies in Massachusetts, age 93 A professor of pediatrics at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland back in the late 1950s, Dr. Robert E. Cooke worked with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson to create the Head Start programs and other major initiatives for children. His involvement the Head Start programs came after he began working with Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her husband Sargent Shriver, after they discovered their mutual interest in helping children with disabilities. Dr. Cooke, who was also a father of two children with a chromosomal defect, began working as an adviser to the Shrivers and the Joseph P. Kennedy...

Fiscal Year 2015 Budget: Will It Affect Head Start Programs? As reports started coming in regarding the reaction from lawmakers to the President’s fiscal year 2015 budget, administrators of Head Start Programs began to wonder how the new budget and the cuts that will ultimately be proposed and made by lawmakers would affect early education programs. From the moment the budget blueprint was released, critics and opponents began talking about how it would have a hard time making its way through Capitol Hill, especially with this being an election year. That being said, experts believe that the President’s $3.9 trillion budget plan doesn’t even stand a chance of being enacted,...

More Funding Needed in Massachusetts for Head Start Programs Just a few weeks ago, it seemed as though the Head Start and Early Head Start budget crisis was over. Education program funding was supposed to be back on the rise, helping low income families right here in Massachusetts and across the country to get access to the early education programs that they so desperately need. However, a state budget meeting was held recently in which a group known as “Stand for Children,” came seeking an increase in funding for preschool programs in the state. Growing Wait List in Massachusetts The most recent count shows that over 40,000 low income families...

Why Head Start Program Healthy Snacks for Kids Are Important One of the best ways to get extra nutrients in your daily diet and learn healthy skills that will prevent overeating at mealtimes and obesity is snacking. Studies show that as many as 97 percent of all Americans snack, with snacking accounting for an average of 24 percent of their daily intake of calories. It seems that snacking is here to stay, so the best way to prevent children from building unhealthy habits is to build positive attitudes about the foods that they choose to snack on each day. How Head Start Can Help The Head Start program is a...

The House Budget Committee’s View on Early Learning Programs With so many American families depending on early learning programs like the Head Start programs, it is important to stay on top of reports, such as the one from the House Budget Committee, has to say about these important social services. The report focused on a wide group of social service and educational programs and specifically addressed the Head Start and Child Care and Development Fund programs, two services that low-income families rely on heavily, especially in the current economic climate. Here is a brief overview on what the House Budget Committee Report had to say about Head Start Programs and...