The science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce is no more diverse than it was 20 years ago. In fact, less than 2% of the STEM workforce is Latino youth, although they make up about 20% of the population, according to a factsheet by the U.S. Department of Education. Vacant STEM jobs and gaps in this growing career field mean gaps in income, health, and quality of life. It also means Americans lag behind in: advancing alternative energy source
curing diseases
predicting natural disasters
preventing cybercrime
protecting our citizens
securing sustainable food supply In order to promote STEM careers among Latino youth, we need to improve STEM programming beginning as early as preschool, promote STEM programs for Latinos, and boost high school ...
Texas State Parks are opening new natural play areas for children and people with disabilities to play and connect with nature. Latino kids in Texas (39.1% Latino), and across the country, lack safe outdoor places to play and be active, which is known as a nature deficit disorder. Families struggle to find green space that is both fun and appropriate for all age ranges. Particularly Latino families, which are often multigenerational. Childhood development leaders, architects, educators and urban planners worked together to design plans for natural playscapes in various outdoor spaces, like state parks, local parks, zoos, and botanical gardens to better engage kids and families with nature. Natural playscapes are designed to be built using natural materials and include boulders, ...
Schools in Fresno, CA (52.8% Latino) opened their green and blue spaces to the public. Green spaces are parks, playgrounds, sports fields and other outdoor play spaces. Blue spaces are swimming pools, lakes and rivers. Latino kids lack safe green and blue spaces, thus face higher rates of chronic disease, drowning, and drowning related injuries compared to white kids. In June 2016, the Fresno Parks, After School, Recreation, and Community Services Department (PARCS) started a new Weekend Recreation and Fitness Program (WRFP) to get help kids and families stay more active. With a $1.2 million dollar budget from the City of Fresno, Fresno Unified School District, and Central Unified School District, they opened school facilities, like playgrounds, sports fields and green space, ...
The first few years are critical for preparing kids for life, yet early childcare employees are the least prepared. They often only have a high school degree, thus aren’t equipped to give kids the care and services they need during their formative years. Mississippi Governor, Phil Bryant, told residents at the Neshoba County Fair in July 2017 that he plans to improve early childhood education across the state by training day care workers. He hopes to use federal and state funds to provide training through the state’s 15 community colleges, at no cost to the workers, according to one source. According to Governor Bryant’s Twitter account, “Our community colleges are now educating our childcare workers on early childhood education best practices. Our children deserve the ...
Did you know: In King County, Washington (9.28% Latino population), only 1 in 4 of all Latino high-school graduates go on to earn a college degree? This is in stark contrast to the region’s 1 in 2 Asian and white students who earn a degree. In an effort to help Latinos both enroll in and succeed in college once they get there, Highline College has created the innovative Puente program. As part of this initiative, just 25 students – most are first-generation Latino students who are the first members of their families to attend college – are “banded” together for the course of their studies.
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Education determines a lot about a person’s life. Education factors into their health, where they live, their access to resources, and their ...
Latino parents in Holyoke, MA (49.49% Latino population) have taken drastic measures in an effort to achieve a better standard of education equity for their children, according to The Boston Globe. In August 2017, the group Padres de Latinos de las Escuelas de Springfield y Holyoke (PLESH) filed a lawsuit against the Holyoke Public School District claiming that there was a failing to “provide adequate translation of educational documents” for parents with limited English proficiency. Nearly half of the 5,300 students in Holyoke live in homes where English isn’t the primary language. Per The Boston Globe report, 80% of all students in the district are Latino and the lawsuit focuses heavily on minority children in special education. “Nothing has changed,” said Glorimar ...
“Equity” is a term that means many things to many different people. For many Latinos, equity has been difficult to attain in many different areas. Healthcare, housing, education, and income are just some of the areas in which many Latinos face disparities and/or inequities. However, the City of San Antonio, Texas (63.34% Latino population), has recently made the topic of equity an issue to be tackled by the city government. San Antonio City Manager, Sheryl Sculley, presented the 2018 city budget recently and it will be the first to use an “equity lens,” according to a story by The Rivard Report. With the new equity lens, more city resources will be committed to areas and populations where the need is greater – often low-income and heavily Latino-populated areas that have ...
Latino students sometimes struggle to continue their education, which can hinder their long-term life outlook. In San Antonio, TX (63.34% Latino population), many students have counted on the Upward Bound Program from the U.S. Department of Education to help prepare them for college. However, according to the San Antonio Express-News, funding for the program – which has been in operation for the last 20 years in the city’s primarily Latino-populated South San Independent School District (SSAISD) – has been cut and was in danger of not continuing. According to reports, 64 SSAISD students participate in Upward Bound. “[That] number probably would have increased to about 100 had there been enough funding to continue the program this year and recruit a new freshman class ...
It cannot be emphasized enough: kids need to eat healthy, nutritious meals in order for them to succeed academically. There is an indisputable link between nutrition and the development of children’s brains. Despite this importance, many kids go hungry. Kids from low-income families, including a disproportionate number of Latinos, often go without meals at school because the owe money. School lunch debt is a huge issue in cities across the country. A 2016 survey by the School Nutrition Association of 1,000 school meal program operators, about 75% of districts had unpaid student meal debt at the end of the school year. The median amount of debt per district was $2,000, but it can run much higher in large districts. For example, the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, ...
