Head start, Dr. Edmund Gordon & Closing the Gap for Marginalized Students

For decades Black American communities called on state and federal governments to address the needs of severely underserved Black and low-income children. Finally, in 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson announced the establishment of Project Head Start. The project sought to holistically address the physical, emotional, and educational needs of young children in under-resourced communities. Beginning as an eight-week summer program, today Head Start serves over 1 million children each year.

This program was inspired by the work of Civil Rights organizers, including many of its key architects. One critical player in the creation of the program was organizer and psychologist, Dr. Edmund Gordon, who had previously done community-based research on the holistic development of children in Harlem.

After launching the headstart program, Dr. Gordon went on to conduct research that proved to the Supreme Court that school segregation had detrimental effects on marginalized children, whose schools were left deeply underfunded.

What Dr. Gordon knew then and continues to reiterate today at the age of 104, is that the achievement gap for Black and other marginalized students (a concept also pioneered by Dr. Gordon), is actually a resource gap— and one that is solvable.

Ensuring children have the nutrition, support, and education needed at such a critical point in their development pays off big time, with kids in the program being more likely to graduate from both high school and college; less likely to be incarcerated; earning higher wages than their peers who didn’t attend a similar program; and having a stronger sense of self and community. 

The resource gap Dr. Gordon and the other founders of Head Start sought to close unfortunately continues to impact marginalized students across the U.S., but we have the power to close that gap and ensure that every student receives the education, support, and resources they need to thrive.