The Springfield Head Start Program includes services to meet the educational, nutritional, health, social and mental health needs of low-income preschool children and families. It is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary child development program. The program serves more than 912,250 children and families in urban and rural areas in the United States. The Springfield Head Start Program was launched in 1965 as a summer program by the Office of Economic Opportunity to help communities break the cycle of poverty. It is administered by the Springfield Urban League, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, civil rights, community-based movement that serves over 6,000 people annually.