• The Head Start program is administered by the Head Start Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
• Grants are awarded by the ACF Regional Offices and the Head Start Bureau's American Indian and Migrant Program Branches directly to local public agencies, private non-profit and for-profit organizations, Indian Tribes and school systems for the purpose of operating Head Start programs at the community level.
• Since it began in 1965, the Head Start program has enrolled 22 million children.
• Read the PIR report for 2006.

Current National Statistics

• Number of Grantees: 1,604
• Number of Centers: 20,050
• Number of Classrooms: 48,260
• Average cost per child: $7,222
• Paid Staff: 211,950
• Volunteers: 1,353,000

During the 2003-2004 Head Start Program Year, nationally:

• 12.7 percent of the Head Start enrollment consisted of children with disabilities, (mental retardation, health impairments, visual handicaps, hearing impairments, emotional disturbance, speech and language impairments, orthopedic handicaps and learning disabilities).
• More than 50,000 children participated in home-based Head Start program services.
• 27 percent of Head Start program staff members were parents of current or former Head Start children. Over 880,000 parents volunteered in their local Head Start program.
• 91 percent of Head Start children had health insurance. 83 percent of those with health insurance were enrolled in the Medicaid/Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program or a state sponsored child health insurance program.
• The 1994 reauthorization of the Head Start Act established a new Early Head Start program for low-income families with infants and toddlers. In Fiscal Year 2004, nearly $677 million was used to support more than 650 programs to provide Early Head Start child development and family support services in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These programs served nearly 62,000 children under the age of three.
• More than 179,000 Head Start fathers participated in organized regularly scheduled activities designed to involve them in Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
• 115 Head Start and Early Head Start Programs were sponsored by faith-based organizations.