A High Quality Tradition

ABCD Head Start offers the winning combination of federal oversight and local expertise.

Funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services through the Administration of Children and Families, all Head Start programs are rigorously reviewed every three years to ensure that we continue to meet the government's standards. These reviews adhere to higher standards than the state's licensing requirements.

The federal government has invested billions of dollars in Head Start's programming, allowing us to become a leader in assessing child outcomes, designing early childhood education curriculums, and overseeing childhood education planning. As the national frontrunner in early childhood education, our hands-on experience allows us to develop many of the standards and practices now accepted nationally.

ABCD's service model focuses on prevention, rather than crisis management, and on building on individual and community strengths.Through ABCD, Head Start is administered locally, and it gives us the advantage of offering specifically targeted programming that can quickly respond to the emerging needs of the people living in the communities we serve.

A History of Excellence in Early Childhood Development

ABCD celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2006 and maintains its commitment to Boston's low-income children and families.The Office of Economic Opportunity launched Project Head Start in 1965 as an eight-week summer program designed to help break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children of low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet the following needs:

• Emotional
• Social
• Health
• Nutritional
• Psychological.

Head Start has well-established early childhood programs with a strong impact on communities across the country.  It remains innovative thanks to its local administration through community-based non-profit organizations and school systems.