As Head Start turns 60, Mississippi parents celebrate the program’s aim of breaking poverty cycles

Akemi Smith’s three-year-old son, Khaz, is currently enrolled in Head Start in Jackson. Speaking at the ceremony, she says he encountered developmental issues after developing medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumor when he was 17 months old. 

“It kind of pushed him back where he lost his speech ,” Smith said. “He lost his balance because of where the tumor was, that’s the part of the brain that affects your balance. So he wasn't able to walk anymore. He had to relearn how to crawl.”

She says during Khaz’s chemotherapy treatments, he also lost some hearing. Smith says she struggled with enrolling her son in daycare. 

“I was calling over at different places, and everyone felt like he was a liability because at the time he was two and he wasn’t walking,” she said. “I was adamant about putting him in a space where he would be with other kids his age, where he could learn, because his cognitive skills were still there.”

Smith says things began to turn around when she discovered Head Start.

“So now he's walking,” she said. “He’s starting to speak more to where we can understand what he’s saying.”

Head Start began in 1965 during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration as an eight-week project that gave preschoolers from low-income families an opportunity to access early childhood education.

Chelsea Luster is the vice president of Head Start for the Hinds County Human Resource Agency.

“What originally started as a summer program has blossomed into a beautiful federal initiative,” she said. “In response to children who come from impoverished backgrounds, ensuring that they receive the health services, educational services, nutritional services, mental health services, you name it.”

Luster says she attended Head Start as a child growing up in Natchez.

“My parents, although they were hard working, they were young and they needed help,” she said. “So I stand before you today as the vice president of Head Start. This work is really meaningful because I know that it works. I'm a product of Head Start.”

Oak Forest, Luster says, was chosen as the site of the Hinds County sixtieth anniversary party because of its impact in the community. 

“When we looked at our assessment scores, our Oak Forest location was one of the centers who had remarkable gains in terms of literacy, in terms of mathematics as well as science,” she said.

Luster adds over the years, the Head Start program has allowed parents to work and contribute to the economy of Mississippi.

Tykerius Price is a 5-year-old student at a Head Start program in Jackson. He says his favorite color is blue and that he’s an aspiring fireman.

Price’s grandmother, Joyce Snow, says she appreciates Head Start. 

“It's the best start ever for a child,” she said.

Snow believes it helps children find the footing to eventually get out of poverty.

Mya Toney’s four-year-old daughter Brielle also attends Head Start. 

“I don't know what some families would do without Head Start because it helps the community, especially for people who desperately need that help,” she said. 

The Trump administration recently backed away from eliminating Head Start from the federal budget, but the threat of federal funding cuts still lingered over the festive atmosphere.

Tobias Cooper is the parent of 5-year-old Kendrick who attends a local Head Start program.

“I think that a lot of the individuals who make some of these decisions on a higher level, they are unaware and uninformed on the impact and the importance of Head Start,” he said.

Democratic state representative, Fabian Nelson, who represents Hinds County, addressed the attendees of the anniversary celebration.

“No matter what happens on the federal level, we're going to have to do whatever we can to preserve this program,” he said. “To make sure that all of our children are getting a strong foundation at the developmental age that determines what a child is going to be when they grow up. We cannot preach that enough.”

According to the Mississippi Head Start Association, more than 25,000 children attend Head Start in the state.