About Us

Head Start and Early Head Start are administered by the Office of Head Start (OHS), within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ESC Region 19, one of 20 regional service centers in Texas, is the grantee agency for the Head Start program in El Paso and Hudspeth counties.

Education Service Center - Region 19 Head Start Birth to Four Early Education proudly serves the community by helping improve the quality of life for thousands of low-income children and their families. The program offers a full range of high-quality early education and development services that are designed to increase school readiness and foster the healthy development of young children from birth to age 4. For children, Head Start services are designed to be holistic, weaving together the educational, physical, social, emotional, and parental threads that form a healthy and school-ready kindergarten student. For parents, the program encourages and equips them with the tools they need to help their children learn and succeed. The program also offers parents resources that help them to become self-sufficient and productive members of our community.

Partnerships with school districts, local agencies, social services, and healthcare providers throughout our community serve to enrich family living and assist with individual needs.

There are 32 Head Start centers serving more than 4,500 children and expectant mothers. We welcome the opportunity to serve our community. Come by and visit our centers.



History 

In January 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty in his State of the Union speech. Subsequently, a panel of experts developed a comprehensive child development program to help communities meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool children. In the summers of 1965 and 1966, Project Head Start was launched as an eight-week program designed to break the cycle of poverty by providing children of low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs. In 1969, Head Start was transferred from the Office of Economic Opportunity to the Office of Child Development in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1977 Head Start began bilingual and bicultural programs in about 21 states. In 1995, the first Early Head Start grants were given and in 1998, Head Start was reauthorized to expand to full-day and full-year services. Head Start was most recently reauthorized again in 2007, with provisions to strengthen Head Start quality. Head Start has served over 30 million children since 1965, growing from an eight-week demonstration project to include full day/year services and many program options.



Mission

"We enrich the lives of children and families in our community by providing high quality comprehensive services featuring an early childhood development program that emphasizes school readiness and family well-being."



Vision

"We transform and impact the future success of children and families by empowering them to reach their full potential."



Core Beliefs


We believe:

  • Every child and family is our priority!
  • Trusting relationships are essential to our success
  • We impact the quality of lives of those we serve
  • Accountability includes exceeding local, state, federal and program standards
  • In effective communications and collaboration
  • Our unique systems approach sustains and drives positive outcomes
  • In evidence-based decision making
  • Our quality journey produces systemic organizational excellence and innovation