Para Los Niños de Highline

Mission

Fostering academic success for every Latino student through parent and community involvement.

Description

In 2003, a group of Latino parents gathered to talk about education. As a result of this meeting, Para Los Niños de Highline was born with the following priorities: to support the education of Latino children and their families, with a focus on early childhood development; to maintain and promote their cultures and languages; and to teach English in order to develop leadership and civic engagement for parents within in the community.

To support these priorities, the founding group of parents knew they needed to address the particular barriers they faced as immigrants. The barriers are many. They include economic challenges, language, cultural barriers, and discrimination.

In addition, school systems function differently in our parents’ home countries than in the United States. Therefore, a lack of information and understanding of how the educational system works in the United States presents an additional challenge as well as creating possible isolation from the broader community. In response to these particular challenges, Para Los Niños de Highline was organized.

With input from the community, PLN developed programs that met the needs of the community. These programs range from providing school readiness and ESL education to helping parents develop the skills and motivation for community involvement. In all its work, Para Los Niños de Highline and its programs represent the desire of a community change that can support all immigrant families in their complex journey through the educational system in the United States.

While Para Los Niños de Highline is a small grassroots organization, our track record is mighty. From partnering with Highline Community College to develop outreach strategies leading to a 28% increase in Latino student enrollment; to creating and leading five culturally competent programs to involve the entire Latino family in their child's education from preschool through higher education, we have a history of supporting individual students, families, our community as a whole, and the institutions that serve us to transform.

Your donation will help us make our outreach stronger, provide emergency assistance to families in need, and continue to improve our intergenerational simultaneous learning educational programs. Help us reach our fundraising goal and GiveBig, every donation brings us closer to our objectives. It is thanks to your support that we are able to accomplish these important goals!  

Recognition

Thank you for supporting our families and community!