With over 9,000 attending participants, the annual NAEYC conference was held in Nashville TN from November 19 to 23, 2019.  The national organization sponsors and supports a number of affiliate groups that represent the interests and concerns of its diverse members, including the Latino Interest Forum. This member caucus consists of Latinos and others who advocate for policies, research, and practices that impact Latino children and families in Early Childhood Education (ECE) settings across the country. With a focus on home language enhancement and cultural identity, the Latino Interest Forum brings to the annual conference updates and trends on what is impacting Latino communities. 

At this year’s conference, the session was initiated with an overview of the growing Latino populations in the middle states. As an example, Nashville has a Latino population of over 100,000, impacting local schools, health services, businesses, and churches. This trend is also true in cities like Knoxville, Chattanooga, Louisville, and Indianapolis.

The session was followed by an overview of NAEYC’s most recent position statement – Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education. The vision in this work is for the organization, its affiliates, and members to advocate for every child to have equitable learning opportunities that help them achieve their full potential as engaged learners and valued members of society. The Latino Interest Forum is deeply committed in advancing this work together with other caucuses - since it impacts primarily children of color, those who speak another language, and many others who may lack equitable learning opportunities. 

A major part of the session was focused on the emerging generation of Latino leaders. Power to the Profession is an innovative initiative that NAEYC is currently pursuing. For Latinos, professional advancement is a challenge to identify, develop and support leaders across the vast spectrum of ECE work titles – from teachers to home visitors to directors to trainers to family advocates. Key to this initiative is the design and implementation of professional development models for those who speak another language, live in rural settings, lack funding for college and university work, or are limited in finding bilingual/bicultural learning models. 

The immigration crisis was an emotional highlight during this session. Participants shared their local experiences across the nation – from raids in Mississippi to families having “emergency” back up plans to the trauma happening to children and their families in urban and isolated communities. This conversation served as a unifying force for all those attending, as well as a call for action in the upcoming election with greater effort in the 2020 census count, energize voter registration, and getting out the vote next November. 

Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors was present throughout the session, with participants citing how it has brought families together as a community, specially in isolated places.  Leadership was evident as people spoke on how their leadership steps began with being “just a parent” to being a director of a program now. 

The 2020 NAEYC Conference will be held in Anaheim CA on November 4 – 7. The Latino Interest Forum invites all friends of Abriendo Puertas to participate.