Cuyahoga County – September 15th was the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the culture of Latinx and Hispanic communities. It also honors the history of those communities and the Hispanic influence and contribution to society.
According to Gloria Chambers, the Site Administrator at Willard Early Learning Center, Willard has the largest Hispanic population within the Step Forward Head Start agency. The Willard Hispanic Awareness Committee planned for this year’s event. The site has weekly events scheduled through October 15th with foci on literacy, arts and crafts, music and dance and food.
Latino and Hispanic communities are the largest and fastest-growing communities in Head Start nationwide. The National Head Start Association confirms about 37 percent of children and pregnant women served by Early Head Start and Head Start identify as Hispanic or Latino.
The number of Hispanic families with enrolled children has doubled over the last three decades.
About 16 percent of Early Head Start and Head Start staff – across the country – identify as Hispanic or Latino.
More than 240,000 children and pregnant women served by Early Head Start and Head Start are dual-language learners. About 36,000 Early Head Start and Head Start educators are proficient in a language other than English.
Head Start gives children and their families the opportunity at school to share who they are and be proud of where they come from.
Here at Step Forward, we celebrate the diversity of our staff, students and clients. We recognize it’s what makes our community strong.
Step Forward HR Project Manager, Nelson Pagan, on why it is so important to celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace:
Step Forward Head Start's Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment, and Attendance Coordinator interviewed by La Prensa, Ohio’s oldest and largest bilingual newspaper
David Santiago spoke about the importance of Head Start and the extra steps Head Start staff take to ensure they meet the needs of all the children and families they serve.
You can read the article here.