Abstract
In today’s political climate, supporting the needs of young children from Latinx immigrant families has become increasingly difficult at the community, institutional, state, and federal levels. This essay is about a group of Latinx families who participated in an innovative early literacy program at a county public library branch in the migration setting of the U.S. Southeast known as the New Latino Diaspora (Hamann, Wortham, Murillo, 2015). We describe the program and its role in building a safe and welcoming environment for Latinx students and their families. We include the voices of the librarian and parents who had never before participated in a family literacy series for Spanish-speaking immigrants. We conclude with a discussion about factors that foster an inclusive community space for educational experiences.
Author Biography
Dr. Max Vazquez Dominguez
Dr. Max Vazquez Dominguez is an assistant professor of science at the University of North Georgia. He has worked in numerous science programs with middle school science teachers, TESOL teachers, emergent bilingual students and their families. He has also worked in Mexico training pre-service and in-service teachers in science in urban and rural regions. His research interests include using the emergent bilingual students’ interests and passions in the teaching/learning process, family involvement, science and soccer, the use of the space to enhance science learning, and bilingualism in education.
Denise Dávila
Denise Dávila is an Assistant Professor of Literacy and Children's Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on the inclusion of Latinx and diverse children's literature in intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and community-based literacy programs for children and families.
Silvia Noguerón-Liu
Silvia Noguerón-Liu is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In her instruction and scholarship, Dr. Noguerón-Liu aims to create learning environments where teachers capitalize on the knowledge of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Her projects—conducted in traditional and new migration settings—document the affordances of digital resources for Latino families and the transnational funds of knowledge parents mobilize in literacy practices with young children.
Recommended Citation
Vazquez Dominguez, M.,
Davila, D.,
&
NOGUERON-LIU, S.
(2018).
Building Safe Community Spaces for Immigrant Families, one Library at a Time.
Occasional Paper Series,
(39).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.58295/2375-3668.1193
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Early Childhood Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons