At June’s First 1000 Days! Early Head Start Conference in Irvine, California, one message stood above the rest: be a child’s superhero.

Keynote speaker Mr. Stu challenged us with a simple but profound idea: “Bad kids don’t exist.” Children who struggle need adults with the patience, compassion, and commitment to help them navigate life’s challenges. Every day, Head Start professionals answer that call.

But if we are called to be a child’s superhero, who will be ours during these challenging times?

Recently, The Heritage Foundation released a report titled From Washington, DC, to the States: Rethinking Head Start, outlining recommendations that closely mirror many of the education and federal workforce proposals associated with Project 2025. While The Heritage Foundation is an independent policy organization and does not represent the Administration, many of its recommendations align with priorities advanced by officials within the current Administration, including initiatives led through the Office of Management and Budget.

The report advances three central arguments:

1. Head Start should be sunset, with federal regulations reduced while the program is phased out.
2. Head Start does not produce lasting academic or behavioral benefits for children.
3. The Office of Head Start has failed to adequately oversee enrollment, fiscal accountability, and child safety.

These are serious claims. They deserve equally serious scrutiny.

Many researchers, early childhood organizations, and policy experts have challenged these conclusions, arguing that the report relies on selective interpretations of decades of research while overlooking the broader evidence demonstrating Head Start’s long-term contributions to children’s health, family stability, school readiness, and economic mobility.

Fortunately, thoughtful responses are beginning to emerge.

• First Five Years Fund has assembled research and resources highlighting the impact of Head Start and Early Head Start.
• Hailey Gibbs published Trump Rule Changes Would Kneecap Head Start in The Progressive, later shared by the Center for American Progress.
• Our partners at Together for Head Start, working alongside Start Early, have mobilized state and regional Head Start Associations with timely information, advocacy resources, and coordinated responses.

These organizations are providing important leadership—but the future of Head Start cannot rest with a handful of national voices alone.

Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner remind us that when people describe the leaders they admire most, four characteristics consistently rise to the top: honesty, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent (The Leadership Challenge, 7th ed., p. 5).

This is precisely the kind of leadership our field needs today.

Our staff are looking for reassurance. Community partners are looking for facts. Policymakers are looking for trusted voices. Families are looking for advocates who will continue fighting for opportunities that have transformed lives for more than sixty years.

Perhaps we have been waiting for someone else to step forward.

But I do not see a superhero coming to save Head Start.

The superhero is us.

Each conversation with a legislator. Each community presentation. Each family success story. Each article shared. Each myth corrected with facts. Each act of courage strengthens the future of Head Start.

For sixty years, Head Start has changed the trajectory of millions of children and families. Our responsibility now is not only to continue that work—but to tell its story with honesty, hope, and conviction.

The children we serve deserve nothing less.

In Partnership,

Ed Condon

Executive Director