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The college-bridge programs created 50 years ago through the War on Poverty were never designed—or funded—to serve all the students who need them.

Left: High school sophomore Starla C. Bright tells how Upward Bound has affected her life.

Early Learning

The ambitious early-childhood program launched in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty is going through dramatic—and sometimes painful—changes, while continuing to pursue its mission.

Left: Ceremony for National Head Start Day on June 30, 1965, at the White House. Front row, right to left: Sargent Shriver, who spearheaded the program as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity; Lou Maginn, director of a Head Start project in Vermont; Lady Bird Johnson; entertainer Danny Kaye; and Mr. Shriver's sons Robert Shriver and Timothy Shriver. —The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library-File

Timeline:
Explore the War on Poverty's landmark program aimed at helping young children through this interactive timeline as the program approaches its 50th anniversary.

Audio Interview:
On the cusp of Head Start's 50th anniversary, Edward F. Zigler reflects on the program's formation, its strengths, and his hopes for Head Start's future.

Community connections forged during the civil rights era have helped sustain Head Start as a powerful presence for generations of Mississippians.

New efforts are looking to help both children and their parents get a leg up and a better education.

Requiring some Head Start providers to recompete for federal funding has been difficult, but will ultimately strengthen the program, says acting director Ann Linehan in a wide-ranging interview.

School Meals

Fifty years after the War on Poverty, child hunger persists despite deepened understanding of the problem and growing efforts to extinguish it.

Left: Nicohles, Destiny, and Desiree Kleis, from left, eat lunch inside the lunch bus in Pasco County, Fla. A growing number of school districts are creating mobile meals programs to keep children well-fed over the summer.—Melissa Lyttle for 91ÖÆƬ³§ÊÓƵ Week

Housing Assistance

The housing programs expanded through the War on Poverty provide stability for many assisted families, but their children still often grow up in concentrated poverty.

Left: A single mother of four describes what it's like to raise a family in Potomac Gardens, a massive 1960s-era public housing project in Washington.

Beyond ZIP Codes:
When housing programs fail to break up concentrated poverty in neighborhoods, some experts argue that school districts should step in to promote economic diversity in the classroom.

Overview

While child poverty remains a stubborn enemy, the federal anti-poverty initiative launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson has led to health and IQ gains for disadvantaged students.

Then and Now: Children play at recess outside of Hays-Porter Elementary School in Cincinnati's West End neighborhood. The yearbook photo on the left depicts the neighborhood around 1990. On the right, Aaryn Hill, 9, and her 2nd grade classmates stand in the same spot earlier this month. —Photos from left: Hays-Porter Elementary School, Swikar Patel/91ÖÆƬ³§ÊÓƵ Week

Timeline: The War on Poverty
Many of the initiatives launched under President Johnson's social programs were designed to reduce poverty through education and child health. Explore the major events →

Fifty years after the War on Poverty began, schools serving children in Cincinnati's West End are still largely segregated by economics and race.

Explore the Data

Since the War on Poverty, the average gap in per-pupil spending between two states grew by 256 percent, an 91ÖÆƬ³§ÊÓƵ Week analysis finds.

A Look at Child-Poverty Rates →

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 91ÖÆƬ³§ÊÓƵ Week looked at the trends over time of children under 18 living in poverty. Use this interactive to explore the year-by-year overview.