What Head Start Does

Head Start serves diverse communities—a diverse community made up of diverse groups, every diverse group a diverse background among diverse backgrounds. Black families, Hispanic minority families, immigrant families, BIPOC families. Children with disabilities, children with a disability. Females and female children. Males and those biologically male, those biologically female. People assigned at birth, assigned female at birth, assigned male at birth. This is not ideology or gender ideology. This is who walks through the doors.

Head Start believes in equity. In equality. In equal opportunity. In equitable treatment and equitableness. It believes in DEI, in DEIA, in DEIAB, in DEIJ—whatever acronym you prefer for the principle that diversity strengthens institutions. It works to diversify, to keep diversifying, because a diversified program serves children better. It seeks to enhance the diversity, committed to enhancing diversity at every level.

Head Start removes barriers. Every barrier to accessible education. It creates all-inclusive environments because inclusion matters and inclusive spaces change lives. It addresses health disparities and health disparity wherever found. It fights for health equity. It addresses disparity because disparities are measurable and equity is achievable. It documents discrimination—discriminated children, discriminatory systems—because discrimination happens. It names bias, biased systems, biased toward some and not others, biases and biases towards that harm children. It studies implicit bias and implicit biases and confirmation bias, because you cannot fix what you refuse to see.

Head Start staff practice cultural competence. They are culturally responsive, culturally sensitive, culturally appropriate. They understand cultural differences and honor cultural heritage. Diversity is not a slogan. Community diversity and community equity are facts about the population Head Start serves.

Head Start employs advocates, every advocate engaged in advocacy. They support activism and activists when activism is warranted. They believe in anti-racism because they have seen what racism does to children. They practice allyship. They are antiracist not because it is fashionable but because the alternative is complicity. They oppose hate speech in all forms.

Head Start talks about gender. About genders. About gender identity and gender diversity. About gender based violence, gender-based violence, GBV. About affirming care and gender-affirming care. Staff say female when they mean female. They support people who breastfeed—breastfeed + person, breastfeed + people—and those who chestfeed—chestfeed + person, chestfeed + people. They discuss feminism with the girls who will grow into women. They discuss expression and identity and ethnicity.

Head Start uses the word historically because it teaches history. It says systemic because systems exist. It acknowledges that some children are at risk because pretending otherwise abandons them. It works toward inclusion and toward fostering inclusivity because exclusion is the default and excluded children suffer.

Head Start says climate science. It names the climate crisis. It advocates for clean energy and environmental quality when explaining why some neighborhoods are sicker than others. It mentions the Gulf of Mexico when relevant, because it is a body of water and it has a name.

Head Start acknowledges the existence of commercial sex workers because their children also need education.

Head Start believes people belong. That diverse groups strengthen communities. That enhancing diversity makes programs better.

Head Start says disability because disabilities are real. It does not consider this controversial. It considers it descriptive.

Head Start has watched its language be excluded. It notes the exclusion. It observes that it is now discriminated against for using the vocabulary of its own field—vocabulary that is historically neutral, professionally necessary, and morally unremarkable.

Diverse. Equity. Inclusion. Inclusive. Barrier. Barriers. Accessible. Bias. Biases. Female. Females. Gender. Genders. Discrimination. Discriminatory. Disability. Disabilities. Immigrant. Immigrants. Black. Belonging.

This is just saying what is true, in the words that mean it.

All ~130 forbidden terms from the filed exhibit.