 What did we do when we all went out, all went out? Head start. A head start for poverty's children. Poverty is the great incubator of more poverty. The breeding ground of disease, of alienation, of defeat. Children trapped by circumstances need a way out. Head start is that way. It's a hand extended in help and love to offset the hatred, the apathy, that beset a child who lives in squalor. How can such a child be given confidence in his own ability and worth? Only with help. The kind of help that head start can give. The dingy hallways, the overcrowded rooms, leave their mark on a child for life. These rooms may grow and never see a book. Never see a crayon. Never sit down at a table to eat. Never have a chance to know the world before they're thrust into it. How can they learn to talk if their parents don't talk to them? To learn to read if they've never seen a book. It's now that they need a head start. For the years up to six are the years that can shape an entire future. Dropouts are made here. A child can be a failure in the first grade. But once he falls behind, it's almost impossible to catch up. These are the children, some from the city, some from the pockets of rural poverty, who are being given a new kind of beginning, a head start. Louisiana to Oregon, from Louisville to Austin, in Yakima, and Walla Walla, and Wilkes-Barre, New York. More than 2,000 communities have joined in this effort to do something for their children. Churches, schools, colleges, professional and civic groups, and volunteers by the thousands have organized to give their children a head start. A start that breaks the barriers of race and language and religion. The Office of Economic Opportunity is working with local communities as head start moves forward. Preschool classes are not new, but they are new for the children of poverty. Do you know how to put your sweater up, Carol? See? It looks good. It's good, and it has a nice look there for you. Fine. Fine. Shall we try one? You think the whole on one foot? I still wouldn't put it on the other foot. Would you like to walk around? Kathy, would you like to take the area around and see what he'd like to do today? You go with Kathy, she's one of our teachers. Thank you. In the first summer, more than a half million children came to head start. That's how cool you are. Now we will know exactly who you are by looking. In Watts, in San Juan, in San Francisco, and in the hills of Appalachia. Poverty knows no geography. The children in Manchester, Kentucky, may have more air and space, but their deprivation and their needs are the same as those of children on the roof of an East Harlem church. Table and on the table they were. In many ways, they're like all children. Some are shy, some are talkative, some angry, some are bold and curious, and some are remarkably skillful. In the midst of the children of poverty, with special needs, that only special help can satisfy, in head start plays more than fun. It has a purpose. A child needs activities that challenges ability and give them a sense of accomplishment. It means not having the experience that other children can have. There are few things to play with, to pound or to paint, to take a part or to put together. Everyone learns by doing. Opens up to a child as he explores how things look and smell and sound and feel. That learns how things act when you're blowing them, when you fit them together, and when you don't keep an eye on them. A medical examination of each child is essential to the program. When you're getting familiar ones there, too, a child who needs glasses can't learn to read. Look over this direction. A child who can't hear is unable to compete with those who can. Put your hands way up above your head, way up high. Most head start children have never seen or been seen by a doctor until now. Then we have to give you a little shot, too, dear. Little examinations, too, are part of the new experience, the new caring. Isabel, do you have a toothbrush at home? You miss no toothbrush. Suppose your mother gets you a toothbrush, Abel? We should ask her because some of your teeth need to be brushed. See, they're getting all dirty. Yes, my, yes, my toothbrush. Your sister has it. Oh, no, you must have a toothbrush of your very own to brush your teeth every time you eat at home. You ask your mother if you can't get a toothbrush. And Isabel, you know you have holes in your teeth. You'll have to ask your mother to take you to your dentist. Huh? Yeah. Don't you want to go to the dentist? Hunger weakens and demoralizes. And far too many children don't have enough to eat. At all, Head Start centers as snack or hot lunch is served. For children who come from homes where there's no conversation, learning comes hard. Without words, life is bewildering. Books can be useful and exciting. But first, you must be properly introduced to them. What's that? A necklace made out of something pretty. And here's a big, here's to be watched, ma'am. And the bell would wake her up just right. And what's that? A bird. A bee, right. And you have to be careful, I think, because when the bees can hurt you. Each day brings new adventures that teach a child new words and new ways of sharing. That's right. Is that what your picture is about? The three, what? There. Oh, we can all take a look. Timothy, well, you should come up and show up. Baby bear. Hey, baby, what size is baby bear? Little, little, little. The bird's there, and then there's that. One baby's there, and then the mother's there. Then somebody's sleeping in my bed. And then the call to police. How does a child learn to overcome suspicion and fear of what's new? Here, you take it. Take it like this with both your hands. There. That's right. That way. That's it. Hold him gently. Take it. You can't hold him. Let's put him up. If he's never held a guinea pig, why shouldn't he be scared? In time with a wise and sympathetic teacher, he'll outgrow his fear. There, that's the way. Can you pet him? Yeah. All right. Ricky sits withdrawn and goes, how can he be persuaded that these strangers are his friends? Don't hold him real gently, so you don't squeak. And Lynn, how can she be given confidence to speak? He's cuddling. He's cuddling right in your neck. Can you hear that squeak? It's going to squeak, squeak, squeak. The head start ideal is to have a teacher and two assistants for every 15 children. In this way, they're very young and unsure. Get the kind of loving attention that's impossible in a large classroom. A sympathetic teacher can work miracles with a withdrawn child when she has the time for him alone. Ricky standing back there alone still isn't ready to join the group. But everything in good time. Now Ricky spends hours building a railroad with new friends. Head start has its extroverts, too. We have to live by rules, and these are the days to learn some of them. OK. Very nice. Even dressing up is more than just play. It's a way of learning how grown-ups act and of trying their world on for size. Here you go. Does your mommy buy that at the store? What does she buy? Being examined by a doctor may be a frightening experience, but pretending to be a doctor can help a child to overcome his fear. Grown-ups can be friends instead of people who head start cares about the whole family. It reaches beyond the child to parents who may not understand their children's needs. It works with them to create an atmosphere of understanding and trust in the home. Parents begin to learn about their children and about themselves. When Esther brings home a picture, Watson needs to be the most pretty picture I ever saw. And I put it up on wall. And I believe that helps her. Many parents are given jobs as teacher's assistants, and a new career's opened up for them. I'm telling you something about Tony. Maybe we ought to start with that. She, of course, Tony's her boy, so she's feeling a lot of things. Tell us what you feel. What's the problem? I'm trying to tell him something. No, I want to do it. This is not a lie. Should Tony suffer because his mother's in the room? Should he? Of course not. Right. And when he has the problem, he is going to come to you and you should let him come. But if it's beyond control, then you hand it over to somebody. There are also thousands of unpaid volunteers working in the kitchens, driving the children to classes, helping on the playgrounds. Many of the volunteers are young people. The Neighborhood Youth Corps is a great help. They understand because their own troubled childhood is not far behind them. Head Start doesn't accomplish miracles. But in community after community, it changes the spirit of the neighborhood. People get to know each other. They go on outings such as this, from New York's east side to Staten Island. It's a short distance as the crow flies, but to some, it's like going to the moon. So far, and it's a to their own experience. They start classes of their own. Some to learn English, others to learn Spanish. All to understand each other better. As the Head Start program develops, family problems and hardships are discovered. Nine children to parents and how many rooms are in the apartment hall? Four rooms. Tell her that on Bellevue South and the whole Bellevue South, there are only going to be two, five bedroom apartments. And one of them I want to get for her. But it's going to be about two and a half years before the building is finished and ready. And I explain that much on Facebook. Dentro de dos años, dos años y medio, van a hacer este nuevo building aquí. En este building me ven nada más que dos apartamentos con sí. We have a clinic in Head Start for our parents. And we ask the parents to come with any kinds of problems. Housing, clothing, welfare, if a father needs a job. Whatever the family problem is, we have to come and talk to us about it. And in the course of the clinic, several of the families who live on the site have come with some of their problems. And I wish that you, I think you could help us on them. Now this is one family, which is a very unusual situation because they have nine children and two parents living in four rooms. They have applied for public housing. And I hope that when the public housing goes up on the site, they'll get one of the two five bedroom apartments. It's a very fine family. However, until that goes up, I wonder if it wouldn't be possible. We'll give them two apartments that are next to each other until they can move into the public housing. Family problems are the concern of Head Start because whatever affects the family affects the child. In Ruston, Louisiana, the Head Start people have found a woman with seven children with no income living in this ramshackle house. The well water is polluted. The only heat comes from the fireplace. In the kitchen, there's no stove. Laborers in the Head Start program pitch in, and she and her children are moved to something better. Not ideal, but a start just the same. One of the many rewards of Head Start is the creation of better understanding between teacher and parents. And naturally, when a child sees his mother being friendly, he becomes friendly. A mother who works in the California fields gives a Head Start teacher a gift of vegetable she has picked, a gift of appreciation, and goodwill. Head Start helps people help themselves. They can discover the joy of working together. They can come to know each other, to make new friends, and to lose old prejudices to weigh something. More than just a paper bag full of treasures, they take the discovery of books, of songs, and stories, of knowing there are people who really understand and care. The family receives something, guidance, a new feeling that they can do something to change their own lives. When school begins, the children of Head Start will not enter as bewildered strangers. The climb out of poverty is long and hard, but these children and their families have begun. And behind them, there are more, hundreds of thousands more who, given the chance to help themselves, will have a Head Start for tomorrow.