Lucille Roybal-Allard Quotes

Head Start has been a key component of health, nutrition and early learning opportunities since the 1960s.

Our children are our greatest resource and Head Start grants help them reach their full potential.

Early childhood education is the key to the betterment of society.

Access to quality early care and education is an important part of our efforts to make San Francisco more equitable, and ensure that every child who grows up here can thrive.

Let me ask you: Should only children of the wealthy have access to quality early education? Should only children of the wealthy have access to a college degree? The answer - the only answer - is: no.

Every child should be given a strong start to their education.

The goal of the Head Start program is to give at-risk children all across our Nation a fair chance at succeeding in the educational system.

Head Start is especially important to Latino children. Latino children make up more than one-third, 34 percent, of all those eligible for the program.

Research has shown time and time again that infants who receive the high-quality child care and early education programs do better in school, have more developed social skills, and display fewer behavior problems.

Early childhood education is an urgent educational, economic and moral imperative. Without it, we face a long-term national economic security crisis.

I say this as a young dad seeing children going into primary school: I don't think we should underestimate the formative effect on a child of those first years in primary school.

I have long been a supporter of the Head Start program because each and every year I witness the dramatic positive impact that early intervention services have on children's lives in my congressional district.

Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development occurs by the age of five. If we don't begin thinking about education in the early years, our children are at risk of falling behind by the time they start Kindergarten.

The government gets it right on Head Start. We are providing opportunities for children in underserved areas where parents may not be able to afford preschool so they can begin their schooling with a running or Head Start.

Children without access to quality early education programs start kindergarten with an 18-month disadvantage, and that gap continues to widen. By the time they are in fourth grade, many cannot do math or read at grade level.

Early childhood education packs a real wallop in terms of the return on the investment.

My People First Education plan includes universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, because the research is very clear that if you have a dollar to spend in education, it's best spent early on with high-quality pre-K so that kids can get off to a strong start.

The research clearly demonstrates high-quality early childhood opportunities help children succeed.

To give every child a fair chance to succeed, we need to give them the best possible start in life. For far too many that isn't happening.

I've been building classrooms for children. Computer labs for kids. It's such a huge problem and so many children just aren't given a chance in life.

In 2009, I pushed for the creation and funding of early childhood block grants to ensure that more kids enter kindergarten ready to learn. It's really not rocket science: Put kids on the right path at an early age - and keep them there.

Early care and education helps children build the skills they need for success in kindergarten and can help close the achievement gap.

When a child shows up for school, and is not physically and mentally ready to learn, he or she never catches up.

If we are serious about providing upward mobility and building a skilled workforce, pre-school is the place to begin.

What we want to do is guarantee all 4-year-old children in the City of Stamford a prekindergarten experience regardless of their financial circumstances.