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In 2016, Alma Gonzalez, a passionate Latino community leader and volunteer, along with the community organization , identified the need to support their area鈥檚 Latino community in becoming advocates and agents of change for themselves and their children. Eastside refers to a large swath of the greater Seattle urban area on the east side of Lake Washington, and the Latino community there was all too aware of the early that can put young Hispanic/Latino children up to a year behind in reading and math skills by the time they enter kindergarten, with even larger gaps for low-income students. This situation is not specific to the Eastside; it鈥檚 endemic throughout the U.S. and has a devastating effect not only on the individual children, but on school systems, the workforce and the economy.

Data from , a tool employed by Washington school districts to assess kindergarten readiness, along with surveys and focus groups within the Eastside Latinx community, underscored the need for information about early learning resources to help the community to close these gaps.

was created in 2011 as a partnership of public, private, nonprofit and faith-based organizations working as a collective towards better outcomes for children, youth, and young adults from cradle to career (0-26 years). The organization has now formed partnerships with 84 different Eastside entities and individuals, united through聽 and strategies to maximize opportunity for each child and young person in the region.

With the help of family and friends, Gonzalez formed the program she called in 2018 鈥� named in honor of her children Nick and Sophia 鈥� so that members of the Latinx community could have a seat at every table where decisions affecting their lives were being made.

Sharing that goal, Eastside Pathways funded the introduction of the 鈥淧romotores鈥澛爉odel to train and support community members to assume roles that help them amplify the voices and needs of their community. Ten Bellevue residents from Spanish-speaking communities were selected to go through specialized instruction and receive certification as promotores, serving as a bridge between Latinx families, local organizations and providers in East King County. The promotores model has been used throughout the U.S. and South America for years 鈥� somewhat synonymous with 鈥渃ommunity health worker鈥� 鈥� and is often referred to as 鈥渟ervicio de coraz贸n鈥� 鈥� service from the heart.

Gonzalez was a lead promotor during the initial project and spent six months with her cohort of promotores convening community members and conducting extensive surveys to pinpoint what community members needed 鈥� and what they already knew 鈥� around issues such as health care, education and housing. The surveys discovered that parental stress was a huge factor in the Latino community, despite a number of resources available to them.

Gonzalez says many community members have limited knowledge about what assistance might be available for them or how to access it 鈥� and even if they did, many don鈥檛 feel empowered enough or confident enough to navigate the often-complex and inequitable systems.

Bridging the Gap

Gonzalez and NISO, with an innovation grant from , partnered with Eastside Pathways to develop the Eastside Early Learning Facilitators (EELF) program using the promotores model. EELF takes a two-pronged approach to addressing the community鈥檚 needs. The first provides for trusted community advocates to visit the families in their homes and share information about the early-learning and family services available in East King County. The goal, says Eastside Pathways鈥� Community Impact Manager Sandy Nathan, is not only to reduce the parents鈥� stress, but to build their confidence in navigating systems.

鈥淪ystems are usually seen as something separate from us,鈥� Nathan says. 鈥溾�極h, the system is broken.鈥� But we hold that every adult working within a system is responsible for it. They are the system. What we are trying to review and modify is how systems and adults can work differently, so that we can see better outcomes for our children, youth and young adults.鈥�

She explains, 鈥淲ithin the Eastside Pathways partnerships, we bring together these diverse systems to speak with each other to address, for example, the gaps and inequities that our Black and brown children are experiencing. We know that pre-K doesn鈥檛 speak to K-to-5 and K-to-5 doesn鈥檛 speak to middle school and so on. That鈥檚 just one example; it鈥檚 true in other systems as well. What Eastside Pathways does is to ask all the stakeholders to think strategically about breaking those silos, reducing the duplicative work and truly focus on what our community needs and how we can co-create solutions.

鈥淭he second critical thing we wanted to do as a part of the EELF program was to make sure the information sharing wasn鈥檛 a one-way channel. At the core of this work is the commitment that everyone this program serves feels seen, heard and valued. The commitment expected from our Early Learning Partners who have services for children from 0 to 5 was to be willing and ready to hear from the community on what鈥檚 working and what鈥檚 not working.鈥�

Nathan adds, 鈥淔or more than two years now, we have convened the Providers鈥� Council, which I facilitate, where early learning providers from health, basic needs, education and parent-child services come together bimonthly to review and reflect on the feedback that we receive from NISO and the facilitators. The commitment is for the providers to take what they learn back to their organizations, review their policies, practices and procedures, and modify them, if necessary, so we can build a stronger, culturally conscious collective system. That is collective impact, with all early learning stakeholders coming together to listen and mend their respective systems so our community can be better served.鈥�

The Best Starts for Kids grant allowed NISO to engage members from the community as staff by paying them for the time they spend as part of the program that鈥檚

serving their community. The program鈥檚 effectiveness is apparent in the fact that 65% of adults the program has served said they would like to explore the opportunity to become promotores themselves. NISO doesn鈥檛 keep those 鈥済raduates鈥� on forever. Instead, the program regularly trains its community advocates, gives them their wings, then starts the process with another cycle.

鈥淭he idea is to keep training more leaders for the community to create change agents鈥� Gonzalez says. 鈥淥ur promotores use those skills and that training, and they step up and get a better job and improve their lives. This is how we all grow together. My mission as a director of NISO is to see that each group of promotores is trained with everything they need to succeed and that we mobilize the community.

鈥淚 remind our teams all the time that we have to keep our eyes on the prize: To make sure all of our kids are ready for kindergarten and ready to learn and thrive through school. For that to happen, we have to take care of ourselves and our families.鈥�

The EELF program is now on its fourth family cycle, having served close to 100 families and more than 125 children aged 0 to 5 in the last two years. Around 15 Early Learning Providers have been actively engaged in the Providers Council. Evidence of the program鈥檚 success lies in the numbers and in stories of how members of the Latino community have been empowered to advocate for themselves and their families. All of this has been possible through the collective efforts of the EELF facilitators, NISO and Eastside Pathways Partnership, with the support of funds from King County. Gonzalez says that, though the initial program has focused on the Latinx community, the intention is to expand to other minority communities in the future.

Passing the Pandemic Test

When the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, NISO and Eastside Pathways were knocked for a loop, along with much of the rest of the world. But that adversity ended up proving precisely how valuable the promotores model was. Though surveys had shown that members of the Latino community preferred to get their information in person from people they trusted, the pandemic quickly brought an end to that avenue.

Within weeks, NISO, Eastside Pathways and Best Starts for Kids had combined their efforts and created a plan. A team of 14 promotores 鈥� many of whom didn鈥檛 even know how to open an email at the time 鈥� were provided with iPads, trained how to use them, then began meeting online. They redefined what 鈥渋n person鈥� looks like and relied on the relationships they had cultivated to support families through the remote setting.

鈥淚 had never heard about Zoom before,鈥� Gonzalez said. 鈥淎nd now, we鈥檙e all Zoom experts. We communicate with the families by Zoom, by WhatsApp videos, by phone. There was such need, and everything was closed. People needed help with food, with rent and especially with information more than ever.

鈥溾�榃here do we go if something happens with COVID?鈥� 鈥榃e鈥檙e unemployed now. Where can we go for help with bills?鈥� 鈥榃here can we get diapers and the things our children need?鈥� And because the promotores come from the community, we were a trusted voice and we鈥檝e been able to keep that communication open and keep serving our families throughout the pandemic.鈥�

Servicio de coraz贸n, indeed.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 麻豆精品. Learn more here.