Early Head Start programs provide family-centered services for low-income families with very young children. These programs are designed to promote the development of the children, and to enable their parents to fulfill their roles as parents and to move toward self-sufficiency.

Early Head Start programs provide similar services as preschool Head Start programs, but they are tailored for the unique needs of infants and toddlers. Early Head Start programs promote the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of infants and toddlers through safe and developmentally enriching caregiving. This prepares these children for continued growth and development and eventual success in school and life.

Pennsylvania’s Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP) provides state funding to Head Start programs that serve three- and four-year olds living in families at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level. The program is offered to eligible families at no-cost. The programs provide comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services aligned to the federal program requirements.

Head Start is a national program administered by the Office of Head Start within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Head Start programs provide comprehensive services for low-income children from birth to entry into kindergarten.

Head Start currently receives more than $6.8 billion in funds and serves more than 906,000 low-income children and families nationwide. The program is child-centered, family-focused, comprehensive, and community-based. Head Start services are designed to address developmental goals for children, employment and self-sufficiency goals for adults, and support for parents in their work and child-caring roles.

Head Start is a direct federal-to-local program administered by more than 1,600 locally based public or private organizations (called “grantees”) across the country.

The Pennsylvania Head Start State Collaboration Office (PA HSSCO) facilitates collaboration among Head Start agencies and entities that carry out activities designed to benefit low income children from birth to school entry and their families. PA HSSCO is funded federally by the Office of Head Start in a grant to the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) and is located at the Pennsylvania Key.

The Pennsylvania Head Start Association (PHSA) functions as an advocacy organization for Head Start programs, families, staff, and administrators in Pennsylvania. PHSA and the PA HSSCO work in partnership to keep lines of communication flowing in a positive direction and developing strategies to facilitate the involvement of Head Start in state and local policies, plans, processes, and decisions affecting low-income children and families.