The effects of homelessness in the Head Start Program in the United States

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Towson University Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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2016-08-08

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Towson University. Social Sciences Program

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Abstract

This paper examines the prevalence of homelessness among families participating in the Head Start program in the United States. In conducting this study, data were collected from three sources. The first source was State and Metropolitan Area Data from the 2010 state-to state statistical census report. The second source of information was collected by the department of Health and Human Services, and the last source of information was state-to-state statistical data collected by the Head Start program. I analyze information from the United States Census report ranging from 2006, 2008, and 2009 relating to social conditions and environmental factors in the fifty United States, such as the number of adults in a state who have completed less than a high school education, and the number of families who are living slightly above and below the poverty line. Overall homelessness rates among Head Start participating families were low. However, regression analysis showed an unexpected inverse relationship between indicators of poverty in a state and the number of families and children in that state's Head Start program who experienced homelessness during the course of the enrollment year. These findings are discussed in light of Head Start's mission to help underserved children.