The Hispanic Services Council, an organization that works for the success and representation of Latinos in the Tampa Bay area, is combatting low Hispanic literacy rates with a new program for parents and their children.
Tampa is home to a large Hispanic community. According to the last Data USA report, there are approximately 106,000 Tampa residents who identify as Latino. Although Tampa is diverse in this way, the opportunity gap changes significantly based on ethnic groups. There are multiple factors that influence this gap, such as income disparities, social class circumstances, and even language barriers, but education access is the most crucial..
“Many Latino children do not have the opportunity to attend university,” said Maria Pinzon, executive director of the HSC. “They do not have this opportunity for many reasons, but one of those reasons is because they are unable to read very well.”
Earning a college degree is important and can even give individuals who fall into Tampa’s Hispanic demographic access to better job opportunities. Unfortunately, Hispanic immigrants, and first generation students, face hardships when seeking out higher education opportunities.
With intentions of closing the opportunity gap, the Hispanic Services Council created a program called “LEER”. It provides quality resources to parents and children, having in mind the low reading levels that are common within their community.
Parental upbringing also contributes to the lack of reading practice at home. Some parents did not grow up reading, others only had access to books at school. That being said, Hispanic parents who want their children to earn a better education may not know where to start.
HSC recognizes this and they have implemented a workshop within the LEER program. The workshop offers stimulating and interactive lessons through various activities, in both English and Spanish, for parents and children. By reinforcing both languages, the lessons have had a great benefit for participants.
