Smart Beginnings for Hispanic Children in Virginia

By: Christina Rogers

The future success of our children starts well before they don their first backpacks. Studies show that 85% of human brain development takes place before the age of 5 and local government is investing time and efforts to better provide early for young people’s future success.

Two years ago, the state of Virginia mandated data collection regarding early childhood experience and education. The data suggests a strong correlation between early childhood experience and the ability to meet kindergarten benchmarks. With the data-induced focus on pre-school preparation, the need for parent education and at-home skills training is crucial. And the training must be appropriate and accessible to families of different economic, cultural and ethnic origins.

Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data indicates that nationally, more than one-quarter of stay-at-home mothers are Hispanic. The 2000 Census data for Virginia. indicated that 4.7 percent of the state population was Hispanic, and the 2005-2007 American Community Survey estimated that 6.7 percent of Virginians were Hispanic. This data suggests an almost 50 percent increase in the Hispanic population of Virginia in fewer than eight years. Groups like Smart Beginnings, in response to the growing Hispanic community, are tailoring their outreach to mothers and families in these communities.
Smart Beginnings was started in 2007 as an initiative of the Charlottesville/Albemarle Partnership for Children and was funded through a grant from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, as well as private and public contributions. United Way is the program manager and fiscal agent for Smart Beginnings and is also a participant.
The goals of the Smart Beginnings program are to foster private and public collaboration towards the creation of an effective system of child and family services, to disseminate information to families that promotes school readiness for children age 0-5 years, and to develop more child care and education systems for children under the age of 5.

Miriam Rushfinn is the director of the Smart Beginnings grant in the Charlottesville/Albemarle region.

Rushfinn said, “We have found a pretty strong correlation – and this has been found nationally as well – between quality early learning experiences and how well children do by academic benchmarks in kindergarten.”

For almost three years outreach to the Hispanic community has been an ongoing goal of Smart Beginnings.

“We know that we have an increasing Latino population and that often times there are language barriers or cultural barriers to helping get their children ready and accessing resources,” Rushfinn said.

Maria Williams works with The Arc of the Piedmont (a local community service organization) and Smart Beginnings funds its infant development project. Williams contributes to the Smart Beginnings initiative working part-time as the parent/infant educator. She works with disadvantaged Hispanic families one -on -one in their homes and also organizes “mothers groups” meetings.
Reaching the disadvantaged / low-income mothers in the Charlottesville/Albemarle Hispanic community presents challenges. Many families lack means of transportation, lack telephone and/or internet connections, and may feel isolated or intimidated as a result of language barriers, cultural differences or illegal immigration status.
The mothers groups have been highly successful, according to Williams and Rushfinn, providing transportation for the mothers, childcare, workshops, classes and lessons covering diverse topics. While children are exposed to English songs, vocabulary and books, as well as provided plenty of play time, their mothers learn about issues such as discipline, nutrition, immigration law and self-care, such as budgeting time and setting limits for themselves. And they regularly receive English language training.

“The beauty of this group is that the moms start bonding and they feel comfortable sharing their experiences,” Williams said.

Williams remembers meeting a lot of “lonely moms” when she first began working with Smart Beginnings two and a half years ago. The mothers groups have aided in alleviating some of the feelings of isolation.

But, Williams said, “We haven’t reached everybody,” and there is still more work to be done.

Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening is the language and literacy assessment tool used in Virginia and children are assessed for benchmark abilities in the fall and spring of their Kindergarten year. Such assessments have proved that there is a correlation between the early childhood experience of children and their abilities to meet the benchmarks. As Smart Beginnings continues its efforts, the program remains grounded in facts and numbers.

“We certainly respond to what we see as the needs of the community as determined by both the public schools and community service providers,” Rushfinn said.

The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation funds nearly 20 collaborative Smart Beginnings initiatives statewide. There is a long way to go, as public preschool space is limited, and only a handful of daycare facilities are accredited, but significant strides have been made towards the creation of what Smart Beginnings calls “ready children.”