Addressing Barriers to Successful Engagement of Immigrant and Refugee Parents of Young Children

This Migration Policy Institute (MPI) webinar discusses the report Immigrant Parents and Early Childhood Programs: Addressing Barriers of Literacy, Culture, and Systems Knowledge from MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy (NCIIP). Presenters include report authors NCIIP Director Margie McHugh and NCIIP Policy Analyst and Program Coordinator Maki Park, as well as Miriam Calderon, Senior Partner for School Readiness Consulting and former Senior Policy Advisor for Early Learning with the White House's Domestic Policy Council, and Eliza Leighton, Director of Promise Neighborhood Langley Park Program with CASA de Maryland. The report seeks to better understand the experiences and challenges faced by early childhood programs and immigrant and refugee parents as they connect with one another by identifying the unique needs of newcomer parents and recommendations for addressing them. MPI partnered with leading organizations in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington state to conduct field work for the study, which spans the range of early childhood parent skill, engagement, and leadership programs.

The webinar includes a preview of new state-level sociodemographic data on foreign-born parents of young children compiled by MPI. Presenters discuss the top-line data and findings from the report, barriers facing immigrant parents, and challenges and opportunities facing policymakers in this arena.