Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is helping initiate a public service campaign encouraging Hispanic families to read, sing, and talk more to their young children so theyre better prepared for school.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is helping initiate a public service campaign encouraging Hispanic families to read, sing and talk more to their young children so they're better prepared for school.
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About a quarter of all babies and toddlers in the US are Hispanic, but these kids are half as likely to have family members read to them and a third less likely to have songs sung to them than white, non-Latino children, according to a recent report by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
The effort is part of the "Too Small to Fail" campaign started last year by the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and Next Generation, a San Francisco-based non-profit. A partner in the effort is Univision Communications Inc., a New York-based Spanish language network that will run a series of public service announcements and news programs with segments focused on the topic.
Clinton was expected to participate in the campaign launchTuesdayat a bilingual Head Start program in East Harlem in New York. Clinton, a longtime supporter of early childhood programs, is a former secretary of state, first lady, and senator of New York. She is considering another White House bid in 2016 and expects to make a decision later this year.
The focus is simple: tackling what's known as the "word gap" by encouraging Hispanic families to focus on these activities for at least 15 minutes daily.
Research published by the late University of Kansas researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley in the '90s highlighted the phenomenon in which children in professional families hear an average of 30 million more words by the time they were 4 than children of parents accepting public assistance, and 15 million more words than children from working-class families.
Children with less exposure are more likely to start school behind their peers and not catch up.
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Hillary Clinton campaign: Helping Hispanics close 'word gap'