Head Start Faces 2008 Crisis Due to 'Billion Broken Promises' and 2007 Law Imposing...

Head Start Faces 2008 Crisis Due to 'Billion Broken Promises' and 2007 Law
Imposing Hundreds of New Requirements and No Funds For Them

Head Start officials from across the nation will hold a phone-based news
conference at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PST on January 24, 2008 to warn that the
nation's first and most successful early-education program will reach a crisis
in 2008 due to a $1 billion shortfall from promised full funding since 2002.

The crisis is worsened by the fact that Head Start grantees also were saddled
with hundreds of new requirements in December 2007 legislation that Congress
then failed to appropriate the needed funds to carry out.

News event speakers will include:

-- National Head Start Association Board Chairman Ron Herndon, also director
of the Albina Head Start program (Portland, OR);

-- California Head Start Association President Lucia Palacios, also director
of the Orange County Head Start program (Santa Ana, CA); and

-- Region 3 Head Start Association President Mary Gunning, also director of
the St. Jerome's Head Start (Baltimore, MD).

TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with
full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT on January 24, 2008 by
dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the "Head Start/billion broken promises"
news event.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio replay of this NHSA news event will be
available as of 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT on January 24, 2008 at
http://www.nhsa.org.

The National Head Start Association (http://www.nhsa.org) is a private
not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the
needs of Head Start children and their families. It represents more than 1
million children, 200,000 staff and 2,600 Head Start programs in the United
States. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start community
by advocating for policies that strengthen services to Head Start children and
their families; by providing extensive training and professional development
to Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research,
information, and resources that enrich Head Start program delivery.

/PRNewswire-USNewswire - Jan. 22/

SOURCE National Head Start Association, Alexandria, VA.; Albina Head Start,
Portland, OR; California Head Start Association, Sacramento, CA; Orange County
Head Start Program, Santa Ana, CA; St. Jerome's Head Start, Baltimore, MD

Ailis Aaron Wolf, +1-703-276-3265, aaaron@hastingsgroup.com, for the National
Head Start Association