Planting the Seeds for Success

RCS Head Start

Head Start began in 1965 with the implementation of the Economic Opportunity Act, which was part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty. The program was designed to provide preschool children from economically challenged families with a "head start" on formal education.

The first Head Start classes, attended by about 561,000 children, met for eight weeks during the summer of 1965. By 1972 most Head Start programs were full-year preschool programs.

The Head Start program was designed to meet the needs of such children and their families, so that when the child reaches kindergarten, he or she is ready to learn without barriers such as poor health, hunger, or other conditions that could distract them from learning. To achieve this objective, Head Start was designed as a comprehensive preschool program, which addressed the areas of education, disabilities, health (including dental, medical, mental health and nutrition), social services, and parent involvement.

As a result of the implementation of Head Start, over 14,5000,000 children have been properly vaccinated, and have received needed medical and dental attention before beginning kindergarten.

Because Head Start is not a "hand out" type of program and there is a big emphasis on parent involvement and parent training, many families involved in the Head Start program have become economically self-sufficient, no longer requiring public assistance.

Children who attend Head Start have a significantly lower chance of being retained in a grade, becoming a teenage parent, committing a crime, or dropping out of school as their peers who do not attend. Parents of Head Start children are more supportive and more active in school activities as their children go through the public school system.

Regional Consolidated Services (RCS) began serving 20 Head Start children at East Side Head Start, located at Asheboro Day Care on Brewer Street, in 1990. In 1994, RCS expanded to serve 60 additional children in three classrooms located at Franklinville, Ramseur, and Trinity Elementary Schools. In 1995, RCS expanded again to serve 34 additional children in two classrooms located at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) in North Asheboro. The ECDC is part of the Asheboro City School System. In 1998, RCS Head Start expanded into Alamance and Caswell Counties. In 2010, RCS Head Start was granted expansion slots to serve an additional 60 children in Alamance and Randolph counties. Currently, RCS Head Start is funded to serve 485 children and their families in Alamance, Caswell and Randolph Counties.