Candice Williams never had to be convinced of the value of a program like Head Start. She lived it.
Williams is executive director of Family Forward Oregon, a Portland-based collective of parents, caregivers and advocates that pushes for legislative reforms such as paid family leave and affordable child care. Long before that, though, Williams benefitted as a child from Head Start’s comprehensive early education, literacy and nutrition programs for low-income families — one success story in the mostly glowing 60-year history of the federal program.
