Head Start: Early Head Start

The Early Head Start program is administered by the Office of Head Start; Administration for Children and Families (ACF); Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Early Head Start programs provide comprehensive services to support the mental, social, and emotional development of children from prenatally to age 3. In addition to education services, programs provide children and their families with health, nutrition, social, and other services.

Early Head Start services are responsive to each child and family’s ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage.

Early Head Start encourages the role of parents as their child’s first and most important teachers. Programs build relationships with families that support positive parent-child relationships, family well-being, and connections to peers and community.

Source of definition: Office of Head Start

Additional information on Head Start can be found on the Administration for Children & Families Office of Head Start page and at the Office of Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC).

Early Head Start services are available to pregnant women and children birth to age 3 and their families. Eligibility is determined by local program staff. Your family may be eligible for Early Head Start services if your family’s income is determined to be at or below the federal poverty level. Programs may enroll some children from families whose incomes are higher than the federal poverty level if they meet other eligibility requirements. Families with circumstances such as homelessness, children in foster care, or families receiving TANF or SSI qualify for services.

 Site and capacity data are available for years 2020 and later on the Data Hub by state, county, Birth to Five Illinois region, school district, and Chicago community area.

These data are also available by township, state Senate district, state House district, congressional district, municipality, and ZCTA2010 on the IECAM database and an Excel spreadsheet for 2024 service data.

The number of sites at which children are served in Head Start.

Source of data: Head Start Collaboration Office

The Head Start Collaboration Office provides data for all sites in the state, which IECAM uses to aggregate to the various regions.

Note on center-based and home-based service: The data on “number of sites” include only center-based service. The locations of home-based service are not included as sites. Beginning with FY2015, the data on “funded enrollment” include both center-based and home-based funded enrollment. This is the case for all geographic regions.

Note that these reporting practices—of the inclusion of both center- and home-based services, and the reporting by all geographic regions—are different from how home-based service was reported in some previous years.

Note on areas with enrollment but no sites: Note that search results by a geographic region (e.g., county, municipality, or township) may show an area of that region (i.e., a particular county, municipality, or township) with funded enrollment but no sites. This is because all of the service in that area is home-based.

The total number of children that an Early Head Start center is funded by the Office of Head Start to enroll at any one time.

Source of data: Head Start Collaboration Office, Head Start Program Information Report (PIR)

The Head Start Collaboration Office provides data for all sites in the state, which IECAM uses to aggregate to the various regions.

Note on data from PIR, state total; and EHS/CC Partnerships: The total of funded enrollment for the state differs as reported on IECAM and as reported in Head Start’s Program Information Report (PIR) because of differences in how grantees reported their site-based data to the Illinois Head Start Collaboration Office and how they reported their grantee-wide data to the federal Head Start program.

For data for FY2016 and later, there is a further difference because the PIR includes the funded enrollment for the Early Head Start / Child Care (EHS/CC) Partnerships, while IECAM does not report those data because IECAM did not receive those data from Head Start.

Note on center-based and home-based service, funded enrollment: See the note below in the section on “Yearly differences in data definitions/descriptions” for information on these data for this year.

Note on areas with enrollment but no sites: Note that search results by a geographic region (e.g., county, municipality, or township) may show an area of that region (i.e., a particular county, municipality, or township) with funded enrollment but no sites. This is because all of the service in that area is home-based.

Note on number of children served: The number of children that an Early Head Start center is funded to enroll at any one time may not be the same as the number that the center serves over the course of a school year. Because children may leave the site or center and be replaced by other children, the funded enrollment may be less than the total number of children served.

Note on location of children served: For center-based service, the funded enrollment is reported for the location at which the children are served, not the location of the children’s home. For home-based service, the funded enrollment is reported for the office location of the Head Start staff who go to the children’s home.

Agencies or organizations that contract with the Office of Head Start to provide or subcontract Early Head Start services in their area.

Illinois Head Start Association provides a list of current Head Start grantee members and delegates on its website. 

Source of data: Head Start Collaboration Office, Illinois Head Start Association (ILHSA)

For past years, there are some differences in the data definition/description, compared with the most recent year. These are indicated here.

For some years, the data for the state as a whole were derived from the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR).

Note that for some years, the state total for ACF Funded Enrollment in Head Start’s Program Information Report (PIR), which can include an unspecified small number of pregnant women, differs from the total funded Early Head Start enrollment reported in the IECAM database. This number differs somewhat because of differences in how grantees reported their site-based data to the Head Start Collaboration Office and how they reported their grantee-wide data to the federal Head Start program. The differences for each year are:

Note on center-based and home-based service, funded enrollment: The data for FY2017 and FY2018 on funded enrollment include both center-based and home-based funded enrollment. This is the case for all geographic regions. For FY2017 and FY2018 data, unlike for data in previous years, Head Start did not report to IECAM any distinctions in center-based and home-based service. Therefore, unlike in previous years, IECAM cannot provide any additional report of home-based funded enrollment separate from total funded enrollment.

For FY2015 and FY2016, the data on funded enrollment include both center-based and home-based funded enrollment. This is the case for all geographic regions. IECAM also provides a report on home-based funded enrollment separate from total funded enrollment.

For FY2012 through FY2014, although the source data did not identify all home-based service as such, all of the home-based funded enrollment was included in the total funded enrollment reported for all regions (because the source data that IECAM received associated home-based service with site locations). Therefore, it would be accurate to compare total funded enrollment (center-based and home-based) for all geographic regions (except one) between FY2016 and FY2012, FY2013, FY2014, and FY2015.

The one region exception is ISBE 2016 regions. Because ISBE changed the ROE regions beginning with FY2016, the ISBE 2016 regions in 2016 cannot be compared with ISBE regions from 2015 and earlier.

For FY2009 through FY2011, the home-based service was reported only for state, county, ISBE region, and IDHS region (because the source data that IECAM received did not associate home-based service with site locations). Therefore, it would be accurate to compare total funded enrollment (center-based and home-based) for FY2016 and for FY2009, FY2010, and FY2011, only for the geographic regions of state, county, and IDHS region, but not for any other geographic regions.