Head Start Awareness Month

WHEREAS, Head Start and Early Head Start are comprehensive child development programs that serve our nation’s most vulnerable young children birth to age five, their families and pregnant women; and

WHEREAS, Head Start and Early Head Start programs provide a wide range of services in the areas of early childhood development, education, medical, dental, mental health, nutrition and parent involvement in order to address individual needs; and

WHEREAS, Head Start has a 50 year history of delivering quality services that contribute to the healthy development and school readiness of low income children across our state and nation; and

WHEREAS, in addition to focusing on the needs of children, Head Start and Early Head Start involves the parents in the education of their own children, in decision making for the program, in financial planning and goal setting; and

WHEREAS, in Alabama, more than 17,000 children are receiving services from Head Start and Early Head Start programs located in all 67 counties:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert Bentley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim April 2015, as

Head Start Awareness Month

in the state of Alabama.