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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.
About a quarter of all babies and toddlers in the U.S. 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 and 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 launch Tuesday at 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.
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