Despite a vigorous public health effort to get every child reading in Georgia, there remain striking and persistent disparities in literacy levels for Latino children. A more proactive approach to supporting language and learning in young children is critical and will help to prevent the literacy disparities seen in Latino children entering the school system.
This preventative focus is the foundation of this proposed project, which leverages the shared expertise of LaAmistad, Inc, which has been serving the Latino community in metro-Atlanta for over 20 years, and Marcus Autism Center (Marcus), which is home to one of the largest clinical and research programs on early social communication development in the country.
Together, LaAmistad and Marcus will implement and evaluate a culturally responsive, early literacy program for families of Latino children ages birth to five years. The joint delivery of the birth-to-five program between Marcus and LaAmistad staff is focused on capacity building and generating an implementation plan to sustain and scale a birth-to-five model within other school- and community-based systems serving the Latino community.
