Washington, DC – A new report by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., concludes that investing in high-quality, comprehensive early childhood education programs could help narrow the growing school readiness gap between Latino and other children. The report, Buenos Principios: Latino Children in the Earliest Years of Life, released today at an event on Capitol Hill with Latino children to commemorate Día de los Niños, provides a demographic profile of Latino infants and toddlers and examines the root causes of the school readiness gap.

“Research shows that early childhood education (ECE) programs are the single most effective investment we can make to prepare a child for the first day of school. Yet, Latino children are underrepresented in the key ECE programs that are proven to work, and these programs are woefully underfunded. The time to invest is early, and we must do it starting at birth,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO.

Among the report’s findings:

• Latino children under age three account for one in five (21.8%) of all infants and toddlers in the U.S. Further, the number of Latino children under the age of two is expected to grow from more than 2.2 million in 2000 to more than 5.1 million in 2050.
• The vast majority (97%) of Latino children under the age of two are U.S. citizens, and 64% of Hispanic children under the age of two are part of immigrant families.
• Most Hispanic infants and toddlers are exposed to English as their primary language at home, but more than one-quarter (27.9%) reside in linguistically isolated households.
• The families of two-thirds of Hispanic children (67%) under the age of three have income that is 200% below the poverty line. This compares to 39% of White families with infants and toddlers. Economic hardship can have an adverse effect on child development.
• Latino children under age three are more likely than other racial and ethnic groups not to have health insurance, and 63% of young Latino children lack access to a regular medical provider, which is important for healthy development and school readiness.
• Young Latinos (29%) are less likely than their White peers (60%) to be read to on a daily basis. White households with young children average 83 children’s books in the home, compared to 33 children’s books in similar Hispanic households. The years from birth to age three represent a critical period for building skills associated with later reading proficiency.

The report also makes a series of recommendations for policy-makers to improve the quality of life and school readiness for Latino children in the U.S.:

• Congress should invest in programs that can boost the chances of success in school and in life for Latino children.
• Congress should restore funds to early literacy and child development programs such as Even Start and Early Head Start; remove barriers to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to ensure that more children can grow up healthy; and strengthen the access, outreach, and accountability of the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the nation’s largest program to fund child care.

“This report provides the data that policy-makers need to make decisions about what is best for our children, who represent the future workforce of this nation,” concluded Murguía.

The report can be downloaded from NCLR’s website at www.nclr.org.

###