Anna Jo Haynes

Anna Jo Garcia Haynes
Child Advocate, Civil Rights Activist
1934 -
INDUCTED 2016

Anna Jo Garcia Haynes has been providing visionary leadership to improve the lives of many generations of children in Colorado.

As an activist in the Civil Rights movement, Anna Jo implemented the first Head Start program (part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty”) in Denver in 1965. She founded Mile High Montessori Early Learning Centers, Denver’s oldest and largest provider of subsidized early childhood care. The Denver Preschool Program, which provides tuition assistance with city funds, is another program Haynes launched. The Colorado Children’s Campaign, a non-profit, nonpartisan, child advocacy organization that has provided a voice for children in Colorado for 30 years under Anna Jo’s leadership.

“The need [for Head Start] was to help the families who wanted to get off of public assistance and go to work. For me, that was sort of like a Head Start for families.” — Anna Jo Haynes