Press Release 4/18/2010
Head Start Community Mourns the Death of a Head Start Leader and National Scholar
ALEXANDRIA, VA.///April 18, 2010///The National Head Start Association mourns the death of Dr. John Meier, one of Head Start's early administrators and a prominent national scholar. Dr. Meier began his relationship with Head Start when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Meier to serve on the Head Start Professional Advisory Committee. In that capacity, Meier served on a team of reviewers who monitored Head Start programs across the country when they converted from being summer to year-round programs. President Gerald Ford in 1974 appointed Meier to be the Director of U.S. Office of Child Development and the Chief of the U.S. Children's Bureau in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Shortly thereafter the U.S. Office of Child Development became the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF). As director of ACYF, Meier administered the Head Start programs and helped to persuade Congress to continue funding Head Start by using Cornell Consortium research findings. In 2003, Meier conducted a study of 600 Head Start graduates in San Bernardino County, California and estimated that society receives nearly $9 in benefits for every $1 invested in these Head Start children. These benefits include increased earnings, employment, and family stability, and decreased welfare dependency, crime costs, grade repetition, and special education. Meier concluded his professional career as the Director of the Disabilities Division for the San Bernardino County Preschool Services Department which operates a large Head Start program.
Outside of Meier's work directly with Head Start, Meier was a nonprofit entrepreneur and scholar. In the late 1960s Meier spearheaded the Rocky Mountain Educational Laboratory. He became national chairman of the Early Childhood Consortium and founded a private non-profit Psychological Educational Research Institute. In 1969, Meier became the Director of the John F. Kennedy Child Development Center for service, training, and research on developmental disabilities at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine.
After Meier's service as director of ACYF, he became the first Executive Director and then the Director of Research and Development for ChildHelp USA, a national program focused on preventing and treating child abuse and neglect. Meier had an undergraduate degree from Regis College and earned his master's degree and doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Denver. In addition, Meier received numerous awards and honors throughout his life. He was honored as one of Head Start's pioneers by the National Head Start Association when Head Start celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2005.
Memorial services for Dr. Meier were held at 4 pm on Saturday, April 17, 2010 at Cortner Chapel in Redlands, 221 Brookside Ave, Redlands, CA 92373. The Meier family requests that individuals can memorialize him by either sending flowers to the Cortner Chapel in Redlands or making a donation to their charity in his name.
ABOUT NHSA
The National Head Start Association (http://www.nhsa.org) is a private not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. It represents more than one million children, 200,000 staff and 2,600 Head Start programs in the United States. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start community by advocating for policies that strengthen services to Head Start children and their families; by providing extensive training and professional development to Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that enrich Head Start program delivery.
CONTACT: Ben Allen, (703) 739-7558 or ballen@nhsa.org.