UC Partnership Awarded $1.2 Million to Serve Hispanic Children

The University of Cincinnati’s distance-learning Early Childhood Learning Community (ECLC) is forming a partnership with four Head Start programs around Ohio in a new $1.2 million initiative funded by the Office of Head Start. This new federally funded five-year partnership will serve as a model for other states exploring how to provide high-quality preschool teachers for Hispanic children as those children get ready for kindergarten, according to Lisa Holstrom, ECLC director and project coordinator for the partnership.

The partnership, called “Todos listos (Spanish for “Get ready”),” will support 37 Head Start teachers working with high populations of Hispanic children, providing the teachers with tuition, books and laptop computers as the teachers earn either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the ECLC. Teachers will be selected for the program based on the number of Hispanic children they serve. They’ll begin taking distance-learning courses through the ECLC next spring.

Using the Internet, VHS, CD-Rom and CVD (CDs that can be played in newer DVD players), the ECLC allows students, primarily working moms, to earn their degree on their own time in their own homes.

Holstrom says a statewide survey of Ohio’s Head Start programs found a critical need for resources to address the challenges of young dual-language learners. “The purpose of this grant is to get preschool Hispanic children ready for kindergarten, and the only way that can happen is if the teacher has the strategies and skills to support the children and their families,” Holstrom says.

The ECLC will serve teachers in the following agencies that are part of the new five-year partnership:

• Hamilton County Community Action Agency
• Texas Migrant Council – Based in Texas, the organization has nine Head Start-funded migrant programs in Ohio.
• WSOS Community Action Commission – Based in Freemont, Ohio, the organization serves low-to-moderate income families in Sandusky, Wood, Ottawa and Seneca counties.
• West Side Ecumenical Ministry (WSEM) – A Cleveland, Ohio, organization that serves Head Start children and their families.

The partnership will receive $249,000 during the first year of funding.

Pre-K Now, an organization that works to advance high-quality preschool programs to all children, reported in 2006 that 21 percent of children under age five in the United States are Hispanic. The report, Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America’s Future, noted that providing these young children with high quality preschool learning environments is taking on national importance as states meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.