It provides parent education and services such as home visits, comprehensive health services, nutrition, and peer support groups for parents. Early Head Start projects coordinate with local Head Start programs so that children have a continuity of services as they grow older. These programs encourage the integration of culture and language into the curriculum and program goals. Grantees include tribes, villages and towns. Although the services are the same as Head Start, the Migrant grantees must make some alterations in order to serve the needs of migrant families.
Migrant centers serve infants as young as six weeks of age.
Preference is given to those families who move most frequently. In 1994, the reauthorized Head Start legislation included new requirements for ensuring quality. No Head Start grantee will continue to receive funds if it falls below a minimum quality level and fails to correct the deficiencies in a prompt manner. The 1994 reauthorization also revised the Head Start Performance Standards. The new rules build on emerging research and expertise of health professionals, focus on the importance of collaboration between Head Start programs and the broader community, and integrate new standards for infants and toddlers.