Project Head Start, launched as an 8 week summer program by the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1965, was designed to help break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children of low income families with a very comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs.

The Head Start Program serves children age 3 to school age.

The program has undergone many improvements over the years and has played a major role in focusing the attention of the Nation to the importance of early childhood development.