$326,000 Grant Will Help Head Start Have Bilingual Class

The newest classroom for Community Action of Northeast Indiana Head Start will be a little different from other Head Start classrooms in Fort Wayne.

To open by Nov. 1, it will be bilingual. Classroom objects will be labeled in English and Spanish: chair/silla, chalkboard/pizarra, book/libro, desk/pupitre, pencil/lapiz. The teacher and aides will speak Spanish and English.

The classroom is made possible by a $326,000, two-year grant from the state of Indiana. A total of $1.5 million has been designated for six Head Start agencies around the state, Gov. Frank O’Bannon has announced.

Other grants went to Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Anderson, Tell City and Monon.

The grants are the first under the state’s “New and Diverse Populations” program that addresses the surge in Hispanics migrating to Indiana.

“Any grants for Hispanics in Allen County that will help enhance their education is a step in the right direction,” said G. Herb Hernandez, a leader in Fort Wayne’s Hispanic community and a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The 3- to 5-year-old age period (of Head Start students) is “an extremely important part of a child’s education,” said Hernandez, CEO of Asset & Estate Management Inc.

The bilingual programs are needed in the community, said Eric Record, CANI Head Start program operation manager. “We’re seeing a dramatic increase in the number of Spanish-speaking families, especially in the downtown areas,” Record said.

Indiana has more than 145,000 Hispanic residents, an increase of 45,000 in the last 10 years, according to the U.S. Census.

Child welfare advocates warn that many of the state’s estimated 27,000 Hispanic students are struggling because of inadequate school budgets and state guidelines and a lack of bilingual instructors.

Federally funded Head Start provides early-childhood education to low-income 3- to 5-year-olds. The agency also provides meals, health and nutrition services, and other support and referrals to the children and their families.

The new Indiana grant will allow CANI Head Start to add 18 Spanish-speaking students, Record said. CANI will recruit the students, he said.

In addition to Spanish-speaking teachers and materials in Spanish, CANI will provide language assistance so Hispanic parents can participate more in their children’s education.

The new classroom in the central city will be truly bilingual: Only a third of the students will know English.

The class will run all day, five days a week, year-round, Record said, so parents can work or attend school without needing child care.

This is CANI Head Start’s second effort to reach out to Allen County’s growing Hispanic population. Last fall, the agency, with the United Way and Three Rivers Literacy Alliance, opened two programs in Allen and Noble counties to teach English to parents of Head Start students.



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