Head Start group tries to track down 27 million alumni "My life can be summed up in the words "wasn't supposed to," " Mills said. I wasn't supposed to get out of my neighborhood. Wasn't supposed to go to Annapolis. Wasn't supposed to work on Wall Street, and wasn't supposed to be married for 25 years and have three great children. The 50-year-old Sterling resident credits a turning point that put him on the path to success: In 1966, his mother enrolled him in one of the first Head Start programs after seeing a flier at church. The announcement of a new kind of day-care center, which served lunch and took care of children all day for no charge, was a huge relief to his working mother and a jump-start on school for him. For two years - first in St. Louis, then in Shreveport, La. - Mills said he gained a solid base in reading and numbers and a love of learning. When his family moved to Joliet, Ill., the next year, he was able to skip kindergarten and begin his new school in the first grade. Mills's story is one of many the National Head Start Association, an advocacy group representing Head Start centers across the country, is collecting as it begins a campaign to find and organize an estimated 27 million alumni of the program. The central office of Head Start, a federal program approved by Congress in 1964 to fight the lasting effects of poverty, is not directly involved in the effort. Head Start is at a critical juncture. Centers across the country are grappling with budget cuts tied to sequestration, and President Obama's proposal to dramatically expand government-funded preschool programs has reinvigorated debate about the program's quality. While lawmakers debate the research about the academic and health outcomes of Head Start, advocates say the most compelling results are the life stories of those who graduated from it. "They are the proof that Head Start really does work, that it does what it sets out to do, which is to get people to succeed in life and to improve families and communities," said Yasmina Vinci, executive director for the National Head Start Association. Head Start alumni include politicians such as U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Angel Taveras, the mayor of Providence, R.I., who campaigned on a "From Head Start to Harvard" message. Lucille O'Neal, basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal's mother, and Rose Rock, comedian Chris Rock's mother, have spoken out as Head Start parents. The National Head Start Association maintains a limited list of alumni, and it has begun collecting video and written testimonials. The group also has hired a full-time employee to track down Head Start graduates from all walks of life.