NHSA Launches HeadStarter Network, an ECE Think Tank

AUSTIN, TX – During the seventh annual SXSWedu Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association, launched the HeadStarter Network to a group of interdisciplinary thought leaders. The HeadStarter Network is a non-profit with the mission to serve as an early childhood education think-and-action-tank that explores, facilitates, and accelerates practitioner-based innovation. Powered by NHSA and governed by Head Start alumni, it aims to become the nation’s leading network for advancing innovation in early childhood education.

The HeadStarter Network serves as a forum for knowledge exchange among early childhood education practitioners, as well as other industries and sectors. Taking the best practices and innovations of Head Start, the organization will combine an established knowledge base with the latest scientific insights on early learning, and the disruptive potential of technology innovations. The HeadStarter Network will facilitate collaborations, experiments, research, products, services, and ventures between Network members: practitioners, alumni, corporate partners, academia, venture philanthropy, and foundations.

“Head Start is a pioneer in the delivery of comprehensive, quality early childhood education for vulnerable children and their families, and we are excited about this new venture created to inspire future generations of early education innovators,” said Vinci. “The HeadStarter Network aims to provide an interdisciplinary and forward-looking engine to propel Head Start into a brilliant future, applying Head Start’s best practices and innovations to shape new models of early childhood education.”