Child Development Group of Mississippi collection

1960-1972

The Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) was a community action group that developed a Head Start program for low income, primarily Black, preschool children. The CDGM Head Start program evolved from a meeting called by Dr. Tom Levin, a civil rights activist, and five other social scientists and professionals, in New York City on March 11, 1965. Levin was the first director of the CDGM's Head Start program which, in its heyday, operated eighty-seven centers throughout Mississippi with an enrollment of 6,000 children and a staff of 3,000 adults.

The CDGM received one of the largest grants in the country from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to begin operation. Within months, it became the OEO's most controversial Head Start program. It faced opposition from the Klu Klux Klan, the local press, and some members of the Black community. In addition, charges of mismanagement were leveled at the organization. In September, less than six months from the time they were funded, CDGM's funds were withdrawn by the OEO.

With the aid of a newly formed support group, the Friends of Children of Mississippi (FCM), the CDGM operated without government funding during the winter of 1965-1966. After a congressional investigation and organizational and personnel changes, the OEO provided $5.5 million dollars for a full year's operation in fourteen out of the nineteen counties in the state. In October 1967, the OEO withdrew all funding to Head Start programs in Mississippi counties operating under the mantle of the CDGM.