Head Start’s Footprint: A Focus on Rural Communities, Children with Disabilities and Vital Health Services
May 2025
Authors: Dr. Shantel Meek, Dr. Xigrid Soto-Boykin, Dr. Tunette Powell, Dr. Evandra Catherine, Dr. Darielle Blevins, Dr. Eric Bucher, Lisa Gordon, Mario Cardona, Dr. Brittany Alexander, and Dr. Cinthia Palomino
This month, Head Start will celebrate its 60th anniversary. Most Americans know Head Start as a preschool program for children in low-income households. But Head Start is much more than that. It provides wide-ranging services that help families meet their basic needs and get ahead. It plays a particularly salient role in the lives of children in rural communities, children with disabilities, and children who otherwise lack access to reliable and consistent health services and nutritious meals.
For families in rural areas, Head Start is the backbone of the child care and early learning system, and has an outsized role in developmental and health screenings, and connecting families to critical health services. In some rural counties across the US, Head Start makes up over 90% of the child care options. Likewise, children with disabilities benefit from Head Start’s individualized approach and its commitment to inclusive education. This is by design. Since 1972, Head Start programs have been expected to enroll children with disabilities in at least 10% of their total slots. And Head Start remains one of the few early childhood programs with a robust emphasis on health screenings, preventative care, and follow-up health services. For many families, the program serves as a crucial entry point into the broader health care system—providing not only basic screenings for vision, hearing, and developmental milestones but also facilitating referrals for specialized services when needed.
This report reviews data and research to explore Head Start’s footprint in the United States, with a focus on:
1️⃣ The role Head Start plays in rural communities, particularly in access to child care and health services. 2️⃣ The benefits of Head Start in the lives of children with disabilities, especially those in rural communities. 3️⃣ The foundational support Head Start provides to children and families through food and nutrition, universal screenings, and connections to health care services.
Browse all of our Head Start Resources
Suggested Citation:
Meek, S., Bucher, E., Soto-Boykin, X., Gordon, L., Powell, T., Cardona, M., Catherine, E., Alexander, B., Blevins, D., Palomino, C., & Mihirbhai Jayswal, P. (May, 2025). Head Start’s Footprint: A Focus on Rural Communities, Children with Disabilities and Vital Health Services. The Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. https://cep.asu.edu/resources/HeadStartsFootprint.
Related Articles
Head Start in Rural Communities: Child Care Access, Jobs & Economic ImpactHow Head Start Leads the Nation in Serving Children with DisabilitiesHow Head Start Serves as America’s Child Health Safety Net
News Mentions:
The Washington Post | ABC News | Fox 40 | The 74 | The Seattle Times| K-12 Dive| The New York Times | The 74
Frequently Asked Questions
Head Start is a federally funded early childhood program that provides comprehensive early learning, health, nutrition, and family support services to children and families. While Head Start is often known as a preschool program for children from families with low incomes, its services extend beyond education to support children’s overall health, development, and wellbeing.
Head Start can play an especially important role in rural communities where families may have fewer child care, early education, and health care options. In some rural counties in the United States, Head Start represents more than 90% of available child care options. Programs can also help connect families with developmental screenings, health services, and other community resources.
Head Start emphasizes the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood education. Since 1972, Head Start programs have been expected to ensure that at least 10% of their enrollment opportunities are available to children with disabilities. Programs also work to provide individualized support and connect children and families with appropriate developmental and educational services.
Head Start programs provide or help connect children with important health services, including vision, hearing, and developmental screenings. Programs can also help families obtain follow-up care and referrals to specialized health or developmental services when additional support is needed.
Head Start takes a comprehensive approach to early childhood development that includes food and nutrition alongside education, health screenings, developmental services, and family supports. These services are designed to address factors that can affect a child’s ability to learn, grow, and participate fully in early education.
Yes. Early education is a central part of Head Start, but the program also provides health, developmental, nutrition, mental health, and family support services. This comprehensive approach is intended to support both children’s school readiness and their broader health and wellbeing.
Health and developmental concerns can affect a young child’s learning and development if they are not identified early. Head Start’s emphasis on screenings can help identify concerns involving vision, hearing, development, and other areas and connect families with appropriate follow-up services.
The Children’s Equity Project’s Head Start’s Footprint report examines Head Start’s role across the United States, with particular attention to rural communities, children with disabilities, and access to health and developmental services. It also explores the program’s role in food and nutrition, universal screenings, and connecting families with health care.