Hispanic Fathers and Family Literacy:
Strengthening Achievement in Hispanic Communities

Learning from our Partners:
A Summary of the Dialogue

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On January 13, 2000, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Deputy Secretary Kevin Thurm, representatives from Hispanic agencies and fatherhood organizations, and federal staff met for a dialogue on strengthening the role of Hispanic fathers in the educational achievement of their children, their families, and themselves. Deputy Secretary Thurm acknowledged the support of The Casey Foundation and the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families in making this meeting possible and thanked the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) for helping to organize the meeting. He then stated that while HHS has made strengthening Hispanic families a priority through our Fatherhood Initiative, nine-point Hispanic Agenda for Action, and other activities, we recognize that Hispanic fatherhood is not at the top of most organizational agendas. He noted that through the process of meetings such as this dialogue, educational opportunities for Hispanic fathers, children, and families has emerged as a strong area of common interest. He asked participants to reflect on two questions:

1. How do we help Hispanic fathers help their children to succeed? and
2. How do we help Hispanic fathers and families to meet their own literacy and educational needs?

At the close of his remarks, Deputy Secretary Thurm stated that participants would receive a meeting summary. He further indicated that HHS would work with our federal partners to identify ways to improve communications with programs to help them better serve their communities. He cited as examples information in the participants’ meeting folders on Welfare-to-Work partnership opportunities and the flexibility available in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Program to fund a variety of services. Deputy Secretary Thurm asked participants to identify additional programs that serve Hispanic families to engage them as more visible partners in this effort. He also encouraged the development of an action plan based on the day’s dialogue with specific steps and a timeframe. Finally, he asked participants to hold the Department accountable for progress in making sure that the programs and policies within HHS are responsive to the needs of Hispanics fathers, families, and communities.

Framing the Issue

The meeting moderators, Patricia Montoya, Commissioner, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, HHS, and Jerry Tello, Director, National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute, provided a framework for the discussion of fatherhood and literacy in Hispanic communities. Commissioner Montoya emphasized the importance of parents’ roles in early learning. She indicated that the current media attention to the research on early brain development has increased the main-stream understanding of how important parents are to their children’s intellectual development and overall well-being. Commissioner Montoya indicated that emerging research on fatherhood indicates that both fathers and mothers contribute to a child’s development and that a father’s involvement is not just about intellectual development but also about emotional ties, attachment, modeling and values. She noted that when a father reads to his child, he contributes not only to the child’s cognitive development, but also conveys to the child his values about the importance of reading and literacy. Ms. Montoya also highlighted Department of Education research demonstrating that students do better academically and socially when their fathers are involved in school. Her challenge to the group was to identify the barriers that keep fathers from becoming involved, the opportunities that can encourage fathers to be more engaged, and the ways that programs can increase cultural relevance and sensitivity to Hispanic fathers. She ended her opening remarks with a challenge for the participants to help government find ways to work in partnership with Hispanic communities and organizations to promote more father involvement.

Jerry Tello began by talking about his own experience with his father. His father taught him that his first obligation in his life was to his mother and that fatherhood is first and foremost about honoring women–your mother, your children’s mother and all mothers. Sometimes the notion of “machismo” is mistakenly viewed as supporting authoritarian and paternalistic behavior, but in reality machismo is about being responsible and honorable and about protecting women not abusing them. Mr. Tello expanded the definition of education beyond literacy to also include character development, that is, respecting women and children, honoring elders, and dealing with society. He indicated that in Latino culture “bien educados” (well- educated) is not about schooling so much as it is about wisdom, about knowing and doing what is right and honorable, and about accepting responsibility for the community. He described the dilemma for Hispanic communities which have some of the highest rates of fatherhood presence in the home but fewer children graduating from high school and going to college. He emphasized that father inclusion and involvement, not just presence, is important. He also noted that to date, Hispanics “haven’t been part of the story, their voices have not been heard or sought.” Mr Tello challenged the meeting participants to think about the difference between presence and involvement. If Hispanic fathers are already present, how can they become more involved with their children’s education at home and in the schools? What kinds of inclusion and integration by fathers are necessary in order to create change in children’s lives? How should communities respond to their changing demographics, that is, the increasing number and proportion of Latinos? What role should Latinos have in developing materials for programs and in translating them? Lastly, Mr. Tello asked how the inclusion of Latino fathers could become a priority for the fatherhood initiative. He indicated that what really mattered was not the dialogue, but what would happen when the meeting was over.

Discussion: Community Efforts to Engage Hispanic Fathers in Children’s Learning and in Adult Literacy and Educational Development

This discussion began with brief presentations by Teresa Gonzalez, AVANCE – Rio Grande Valley, McAllen, Texas, and Richard F. Gonzalez, Administration for Children’s Services, Head Start, New York. Participants then based their discussion on the following questions: What is going on in communities? What are we learning? What are the models and promising approaches? What are the barriers? What components are missing? What is needed to strengthen programs?

The two presentations gave all participants a sense of the great diversity among Hispanic communities, as well as similarities. Avance serves the Rio Grande Valley border area in Texas. The service area is huge, four counties cover 4,000 square miles. The areas with residential concentrations of Mexican-Americans are called “colonias.” Many of the colonias lack basic services, such as running water, electricity and sewers. The economy is primarily based on farming and ranching. Many fathers work long hours and do hard physical labor, but there is also high unemployment in the area, about 44 percent. While the Head Start program in New York City also covers a very large area, it is a very urban program. There are many different Hispanic groups in New York and these groups often see themselves a having different cultures and Spanish dialects. Like the families in the Rio Grande Valley, there is much poverty and inadequate housing and homelessness are problems for some families. Initially fathers appear to be absent from the home, at least, information on the father is often not included on the Head Start application. However, often the fathers are the ones who bring their children to the program.

Challenges: Participants discussed the challenges of working with Hispanic fathers based on experiences in their own communities and their familiarity with other Hispanic fatherhood programs in communities around the United States. The dialogue participants did not try to reach agreement on which challenges they felt were most significant for Hispanic fatherhood programs, recognizing that importance may be specific to the community and the population being served. Therefore, the order in which these challenges are listed should not be taken to reflect any priority or significance.

Employment

• Physically demanding jobs make it difficult for men to attend programs or classes, too tired to participate.
• Little employer involvement/support; men fear losing jobs if they go to a class or meeting.
• Bias against those who perform physical labor.
• Tension between income-producing activities and fatherhood. Work comes first.

Unemployment

• High unemployment in some areas and for men with low skills
• Diminishing opportunities (e.g., NYC eliminated remedial classes)
• Unwillingness to acknowledge Spanish GED testing as legitimate educational achievement.

Recruitment and Retention

• Assumptions/self-fulfilling prophecies, “they won’t come, and if they do, they won’t stay.”
• Schools and other organizations not welcoming toward men – “what are you doing here?”
• Lack of male role models, e.g., school teachers and social work staff are primarily female.

Societal Views and Assumptions

• Traditional roles, i.e., father is the provider for the family, mother is the caretaker.
• Societal view of men as the problem; men typically seen as abusers, predators, pimps.
• Stereotypes, racism, anti-immigrant bias.
• Negative media portrayals.
• When we talk about parents we usually mean mothers and ignore fathers.

Language and Literacy

• Many fathers are not bilingual.
• For fathers, getting a job may be viewed as more important than literacy or ESL.
• Functional literacy may be low-junior high level regardless of grade completed.

Contextual Factors

• Increased caretaking by fathers/men as TANF pushes more mothers into work outside home.
• Vast service areas, e.g., AVANCE-Rio Grande serves four counties over 4,000 square miles.
• Poor living conditions, e.g., “colonias” on Texas-Mexico border lack electricity, water, etc.
• Many different Hispanic communities (e.g., in NYC), don’t necessarily need or want same programs.

Program Funding and Design

• Funding insufficient to sustain programs or expand capacity to meet demand.
• Categorical funding streams limit client eligibility and service delivery.
• Literacy funding is targeted to school/literacy centers that don’t work with men as fathers.
• Fathers need to create programs to meet their needs; staff and fathers may want different things.
• Relationship building may be more important than specific program design.
• Best practices not identified, researched, or disseminated.

One of the participants provided a powerful anecdotal story from his own life. His father, who was not comfortable interacting with the formal educational system, every year took responsibility to see that his son was not inappropriately placed in ESL classes just because he had an Hispanic name and lived in an Hispanic community. He saw his father’s activism as an indicator of how Hispanic fathers need to expand the roles they play in their children’s education. It may not be the traditional role of Hispanic fathers to go to school and talk to the teachers and principals but it may be necessary if Hispanic fathers are going to provide a better life for their children. Work may not be enough. Fathers also need to go to meetings, to classes, to advocate for their children.

What is needed to strengthen programs: Participants discussion included the identification of the strategies that had worked in their programs in meeting the challenges that face Hispanic fathers and Hispanic fatherhood programs. Like the list of challenges, the order of the various strategies does not reflect priority or importance.

Program Assumptions

• Use an asset-based approach focusing on parents’ strengths including culture and spirituality.
• Programs that emphasize that fathers are integral to the family.
• Invert assumptions (e.g., men are available); develop new mindset that is accepting of dads.
• Help men draw on their strengths; see them as a positive, not a deficit.

Program Design and Curriculum

• Materials should be created specifically for dads, not just an adaptation from “mothers” programs.
• Father-focused curricula, not just an add-on to a parenting program.
• Build on the need for jobs; provide opportunities for education and job training.
• Provide flexible hours (e.g., early morning before work, evenings, and weekends).
• Meet clients where they are, e.g., home visits, take them to lunch.
• Fathers should create their own programs based on what is meaningful to them.
• Tailor program to the community, e.g., in D.C., soccer helps involve Central American dads.
• Have ESL/literacy training off-site; reduces fear of disclosure to others of problems with reading.
• Have activities that allow staff to know fathers, boys and to get to know each other, e.g., “Circulo de Hombres” meetings, drop-in support groups.

Diversity

• Increase male Latino role models, mentors.
• Acknowledge the diversity within the Hispanic community and create ways of celebrating and affirming that diversity.
• Conduct cultural diversity training; raise awareness of the Latino culture and of the male culture.
• Materials should be created in Spanish, not just translated.
• Employ more Hispanic fathers in Head Start.

Recruitment of Fathers

• Use individual/personal invitation, it’s the best way to get people involved.
• Have children invite their fathers to special events or programs.
• Have dads bring their kids and physically play with them. Use sports, family activities to increase participation.
• Use transitions, such as the start of school, graduation, new baby, to plan special events for fathers and by fathers.
• Use incentives that are meaningful and supportive of fathers and what they do as fathers: games, books, toys, tickets to sporting events. Some men appreciate stipends and others resent them.
• Draw dads in with GED courses, job training
• Involve parents who have completed programs in outreach activities with other parents.

One of the speakers summed up much of the discussion by talking about the need to get to know the fathers as individuals, as people. While program design, collaboration, recruitment, are important, it is the one-on-one relationships that will bring men together and get them involved in the program and with their children. Men need to have opportunities to share their story with other men of the same cultural and of other cultures. If we want men to be more involved in family life, to see themselves as more than providers, we have to start early and start working with young boys in school about what being a man is all about.

Discussion: Strategies for Strengthening the Role of Hispanic Fathers in Child and Family Literacy and Educational Achievement

Participants addressed the following questions: How do we build awareness of Hispanic fathers’ roles in family literacy and educational achievement? What are the available resources in the public and private sectors? What is needed to build capacity and further achievement? Much of this discussion continued the themes of the earlier session moving to more explicit examples or concrete examples of broad actions that could be taken to facilitate systemic change rather than individual program improvements.

Increasing Awareness

• Need media help. Need television programs for men that can help men grow and develop. Need positive media portrayals in televison and movies that show good men doing good things.
• Need more public service announcements showing Hispanic men and families that focus on the value of fathers.
• Should create a watchdog group to improve the media portrayal of Latino men. The group should be proactive, not just reactive to negative portrayals of men of color.
• Need to use people who have had experience in working with Hispanic dads to change awareness in schools and other programs. Many teachers and other program staff do not think fathers want to be involved and do not know how to get them involved.
• Anti-immigrant bias, racism, stereotypes needs to be addressed. Fathers and families won’t come, if they are not made to feel welcome and valued.
• We have to change the way we address issues of the penal system. Children are being raised without fathers. Fathers in prison are often far away from there children. There is reluctance to connect incarcerated fathers to their families. Young men are deported and in prison. There is much pain in disconnected relationships.

Resource Availability

• For community based programs, implementation of fatherhood programs is directly tied to funding. Programs can’t expand unless there are more resources.
• Set aside funding for a group that can provide technical assistance and training as needed nationwide on how to work with Hispanic fathers, especially in Spanish.
• Need resources specifically for fatherhood program efforts and to develop culturally appropriate fatherhood programs.
• Existing parenting and family support groups need to be expanded to include fathers. Groups should meet regularly and be well advertised.
• In funding federal programs, conference and meetings, Latinos should always be represented.

Capacity Building

• Focus on effective staff recruitment and training, including staff who can model desired behavior with dads (e.g., staff who read to their own kids).
• Grow our own resources, make education part of the ethos of the program (e.g., encourage staff to further their own education).
• Institute programs to recruit and train Hispanic staff (a focus of the National Head Start Latino Network).
• Hispanic men need to be pushed into higher education if programs are to be able to hire the right mix of staff (men and women, cultural diversity, bilingual).
• Direct resources at parents because parents are the agents of change.
• Evaluate programming to develop effective programs tailored to the unique needs of different Hispanic/Latino populations (e.g., recent immigrants, seventh- generation Mexican-Americans).

The following summary of one participant’s comments provides a sense of the afternoon conversation: It is important to do personal development with men, don’t just ask men to read to their kids, ask them to read for themselves. Kids do what they see. It is important to chance societal norms. There needs to be support for mothers and fathers. Men and women need to be more inclusive. If there are only programs for mothers and programs for fathers, how do we create the modeling for both men and women. For immigrant families (maybe for all who see themselves outside the mainstream), we have to do more than work in Spanish, although that is important. We need to tell these families that the United States is not finished yet. We have not decided what “we the people” means. There is still a place for everyone. There is an open door for families to contribute. We need to ask parents, fathers and mothers, such questions as “What brought you here?,” “What made you take the risk of leaving your country?” “What do you want for your children?” “How can we help you do what you need to do for your children and for yourselves?”

Looking to the Future

Participants were asked: Though public/private partnerships how can we help each other and the communities we serve? What needs to be done now? What should be part of a long-term strategy? Information presented here is from the discussion and post-meeting follow-up.

Short-Term Strategies

• Become active in public policy, e.g., bring the voice of practitioners to the Senate as it considers a bill to fund programs that serve fathers.
• Connect with existing programs, e.g., the National Institute for Literacy.
• HHS, HACU, Department of Labor, and others should jointly conduct follow-up activities.
• Develop a smaller working group to develop next steps, action plan.
• Come back together in three to six months to review progress; what has/has not been done.

Long-Term Strategies

• Develop communications network to keep Hispanic programs and organizations informed about funding, best practices, training and technical assistance.
• Develop mechanisms (e.g. technical assistance) for increasing the capacity of community-based programs to serve Hispanic fathers.
• Do more research on Hispanic fatherhood and Hispanic families, including the identification of best practices.
• Raise awareness about the importance of fatherhood in Hispanic organizations and communities.
• Include a Hispanic voice in all national fatherhood organizations and conferences.

Where to?

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Home Pages:
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Last updated: 03/12/02