Hi John - As the father of 2 young children in a public elementary school in Washington, DC, I get to see first-hand the critical importance that early childhood education has in preparing young kids for a lifetime of educational success. Due to the demographics of our neighborhood, our school serves a large number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, including more than one-third classified as being “at risk” due to poverty levels. Programs at schools like ours make a significant difference in preparing children for further opportunities in their lives. One of the most successful early-education programs is Head Start, which over the past 50+ years has helped provide a strong educational foundation for more than 35 million children. Congress will soon make decisions about how much funding Head Start should receive. Your members of Congress need to hear from you today! Please urge your members of Congress to support robust funding for Head Start. Head Start and Early Head Start are federally funded programs that provide early learning opportunities, nutrition and health support to children from birth through age 5 who are growing up in poverty, during their most critical stages of development. Without early intervention programs like Head Start, our nation’s most vulnerable kids aren’t able to participate in high-quality educational opportunities that could change the course of their entire lives. 90% of brain development occurs by age 5 – the window to lay the foundation for academic and lifelong success is so limited! Congress has less than two weeks to wrap up funding decisions for next year. Please speak out by contacting your members of Congress so more kids can have an opportunity to succeed. Thank you for being a voice for kids, | 
