Head Start: A necessary intervention in Flint

Nothing is more frightening than being told your child has been poisoned and no one knows how damaging the effects will be to her health and development. It is a moment that can leave parents feeling powerless and angry. The anger is certainly justified, but the powerlessness is not – there are a number of ways families can help stop ongoing exposure to lead and reduce children’s blood lead levels over time through nutrition, filtered water, and removing household toxins. What thousands of parents of young children in Flint, Michigan need most right now is knowledge – about their children’s needs, about navigating the health care system and community resources, and about how their children will get all the services they will need in the coming months or years before they formally enter school. Right now, in that community, that is what Head Start is.

{mosads}The power of Head Start comes from the fact that every local program is designed in partnership with families based on the strengths and needs of that particular community. In Far Rockaway, New York after Superstorm Sandy, we heard about program staff who went out to knock on families’ doors and conduct home visits until classrooms could be safely accessed again. In the months after Hurricane Katrina, Head Start programs in the surrounding states opened their doors to families evacuated from New Orleans. Over the past month or so, I have been honored to lead the National Head Start Association in supporting the local Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Flint to advocate for the resources they need to expand access and enhance services for families of children exposed to lead. I have also been humbled by the outpouring of suggestions, donations, and goodwill from Head Start programs and families around the country.

Community leaders and federal policymakers alike have appropriately identified Head Start as a necessary intervention and key partner in developing a forward-looking plan to combat the devastating consequences of the lead exposure. Today, the work of doctors, teachers, parents and legislators has led us to an initial federal investment in Head Start as part of the solution to the multi-faceted challenges that are ahead for the families of Flint. The Department of Health and Human Services has assigned $3.6 million in one-time emergency funding to expand and enhance Head Start and Early Head Start services and increase parent education. 

Each year, in communities across the country, Early Head Start and Head Start serve more than one million pregnant women and children from birth to five years old, but the comprehensive nature of the services they offer isn’t widely known. In addition to providing high-quality, nurturing early care and education experiences, programs:

·         Ensure children have access to continuous health, dental, and mental health care;

·         Provide screenings for developmental and health concerns and appropriate follow up care;

·         Offer nutrition which helps ameliorate the effects of lead; and

·         Work with each family to access community resources necessary to achieve their personal goals around education, employment, housing, food security, and more.

In the coming months in Flint, the health and nutrition services that Head Start and Early Head Start will provide will be more critical than ever – but we cannot let our focus be limited. There are still thousands of children in Flint under the age of five who are not able to access Head Start or other early learning services and who are just as much at-risk because of lead. There are also children in communities around the country who are at risk of lead exposure or poisoning because of other environmental contaminants. Even as we celebrate today’s announcement, we must devote ourselves to continued advocacy. The National Head Start Association’s enduring vision is that we will not rest until every vulnerable child is served with the Head Start model of support for the whole child, the family, and the community. That vision was created because of places like Flint, and because we believe deeply in the promise and potential of every child, and of all the children in Flint. What they need now is a window of opportunity. That window is Head Start.

Vinci is executive director of the National Head Start Association.