“Winning Strategies:
Partnering with Public System
Strengthening Families
Intergenerational Relationships”
Inviting Latino Families Into the Classroom
Resilience and school success are strongly impacted by
factors outside of the traditional classroom, including
poverty, health and family circumstances. The Concilio
Campesino del Sudoeste (Concilio CDS Inc.) in Las Cruces,
N.M., operates a foster grandparent program in partnership
with schools throughout Southern New Mexico. Executive
Director Josefina Mata believes that, as foster grandparents,
these senior volunteers fill an important role in many Latino
immigrant families. She explains that, while many immigrant
families arrived without grandparents, the Latino family unit
often is not limited to parents and children, but also includes
grandparents, aunts and uncles to guide children and young
people. The special respect accorded to grandparents makes
seniors particularly effective tutors and mentors, both at
school and in life.
Concilio Campesino del Sudoeste’s Foster Grandparent
program assigns volunteers 55 years and older to work at
schools close to their homes. While Concilio CDS Inc. focuses
on early childhood and primary education, volunteers are
placed in schools from Head Start centers through the high
school level. Foster Grandparents work one-on-one, or in
small groups with struggling students to help them meet
performance benchmarks for each grade, For example, they
focus on independence skills in Head Start, on reading skills in
early elementary, and on developing fine arts techniques in high
school. Mata said that the emotional support and one-on-one
attention from a Foster Grandparent gives underperforming
students the confidence they need to keep trying.
Mata said that Foster Grandparenting is a reciprocal program,
whereby older adults on limited incomes are re-engaged with
their community. The program keeps them physically and
mentally active and can help to fill the gap for those Foster
Grandparents who don’t have family in New Mexico. Finally,
the program provides Foster Grandparents a minimal stipend
to cover their participation costs. Concilio CDS Inc. provides
Foster Grandparents with an orientation and monthly trainnings,
and it coordinates with the districts, schools and teachers to
ensure that Foster Grandparents are effective in the classroom.
About Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP)
HIP brings together grantmakers to find solutions to the structural underfunding of
one of the nation’s greatest resources: the growing U.S. Latino community. In doing
so, HIP provides information, referrals and advice to foundations seeking to support
Latino leadership and capacity building; supports Latino leaders in philanthropy,
from the newest to those already in the top tier; seeds capacity building for
Latino nonprofits at the local level, and promotes philanthropic collaboration and
investment in areas of critical need, including aging, LGBTQ, Latino men and boys,
education and other issues.
For more information, please visit www.hiponline.org.
About the report
The current research results from a partnership between Hispanics in Philanthropy
(HIP) and The California Endowment. The study was a joint effort between HIP,
Frontline Solutions, and independent consultants as part of HIP’s ongoing work to
increase support for Latino Men and Boys.