Champions of Change

Champions of Change: Head Start

The White House honors individuals from Head Start programs across the country who have demonstrated a commitment to delivering on the promise of Head Start in their local communities. Over 45 years after its inception, Head Start continues to serve as a national laboratory for how we think about educating and caring for our youngest, most vulnerable children.

Joy Vithespongse Trejo is the Senior Director of Early Childhood and Family Service Programs for The Campagna Center. Founded in 1945, The Campagna Center is a non-profit organization located in...

When Ginger West’s daughter was enrolled in Early Head Start, she took every opportunity to voice the needs of parents in the program and volunteered non-stop. Although her child has since...

Roxanne Hiller is the Site Supervisor/Teacher of the Resource Connection Head Start program in West Point, a rural town in the foothills of Northern California’s Gold Country. She currently holds...

Angelica Vilaverde is an Early Head Start Center-based Teacher with Southwest Human Development Early Head Start and Head Start located at the Educare Arizona facility in Phoenix, Arizona....

Rosemary Grier is a preschool Head Start Teacher and Mentor-Coach for BHK Child Development Board, Michigan’s “Center of Excellence in Early Childhood.” She has been in public and Head Start...

Head Start Director Renetta Goeson is a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (a Dakota Nation) located on the Lake Traverse Reservation in Northeastern South Dakota. Renetta began her career at...

T. Berry Brazelton, MD, Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus at Harvard Medical School, is one of the foremost authorities on pediatrics and child development. Author of over 200 scholarly papers, he...

Lori Pittman has made Head Start and Head Start Parents her lifework. She has been a part of Head Start for over nineteen years as a Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) Head Start...

Lourdes Villanueva is Director of Farmworker Advocacy for Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA). She has worked for RCMA in various positions for almost 30 years, earning a college degree...

Dr. Rory Brown Sipp, Ed.D, has been involved with Early Childhood Education since he was a child, where he attended and graduated at 4 years-old from the Head Start program in Birmingham, Alabama...

Caren Calhoun is the Executive Director of Tulsa Educare, where she oversees three high-quality early childhood education centers for low-income children and their families. Caren has created...