The Hidalgo County Head Start Program (HCHSP) has a long history of providing high quality Head Start services in Hidalgo County.  Under the auspices of the County, for the past thirty five (35) years HCHSP has engaged staff, families and community partners in delivering comprehensive child development services to our children in the areas of education, health, mental health, nutrition and social services. HCHSP is federally funded as a Grantee Agency by the Department of Health and Human Services and also provides free nutritional meals to all children funded through the Texas Department of Agriculture. HCHSP uses a holistic approach to address the individual children's needs using the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (HSELOF) as the research based guide to identify the age appropriate skills, behaviors, and knowledge children need to succeed in school. Research based assessment, curriculum and best practices form the core of the teaching and learning act. HCHSP utilizes a Management Systems approach to services, which ensures program effectiveness and accountability to stakeholders. These systems include: Communication, Human Resources, Record Keeping and Recording, Program Planning, Self-Assessment, Eligibility-Recruitment-Selection-Enrollment-Attendance, Facilities, Fiscal, Program Governance, and Monitoring.

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Our primary role as the biggest change agent in the community is best defined by our vision: "We are dedicated to the economic and social well-being of children and families and committed to their safety, education, and healthy development, with strong community support". We bring significant positive community changes and improvements in the lives of families we serve as we live our commitment to our mission: "To break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy". This commitment emboldens our staff, our parents, our Policy Council and Commissioner's Court (Grantee Board), to ensure that engagement and decision making is broad based and brings unity to our efforts. More than 34% of our employees are current or former parents and we facilitate career paths in education and other areas within our program by providing financial support and release time for staff seeking a college degree. We currently serve three thousand six hundred and ninety (3,690) of the neediest children in the county through a center based network of forty (40) facilities connecting one hundred and eighty six (186) classrooms with a labor force of seven hundred and seventy five (775) employees, of which thirty four percent (34%) are current or former Head Start parents.

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Our great partnerships with school districts and Early Head Start agencies in Hidalgo County support and strengthen our commitment to "School Readiness" as children transition in and out of Head Start and continue their educational experience. It is our sincerest expectation that every child along with their parents, will be school-ready to continue their educational journey with the support of our experienced staff, committed Program Leadership and informed community upon their exit from the world of Head Start excellence.