Press Release: Hispanic Education Coalition Applauds Choice of New Director of Head Start Early Childhood Education Programs.

October 6, 2009

Contact: Erika Beltran, (202) 785-1670

Washington, DC – The Hispanic Education Coalition (HEC) praised the appointment of Yvette Sanchez-Fuentes as the new Director of the Office of Head Start. Sanchez-Fuentes will be the first Hispanic to oversee the nation’s premier early childhood education program.  She has worked in early childhood education throughout her career at the national and international levels, most recently as the Executive Director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association. 
 
“We are pleased that Yvette Sanchez-Fuentes will be the new Director of the Office of Head Start and will be the first Hispanic to serve in this position. This is a milestone for a program that has been in existence for more than 40 years, and we are confident that Yvette’s leadership will make Head Start an even stronger program for children and families throughout the country,” said Erika Beltran, HEC Co-Chair and Policy Analyst for the Education and Children’s Policy Project at NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. 
 
The HEC has long recognized the importance of early care and education and the role of Head Start in helping Latino children enter school ready for success. Latino children—the fastest-growing student population in the nation— represent approximately 20% of the U.S. public school enrollment. Yet, they tend to have higher levels of poverty, lower levels of parental education, and higher levels of linguistic isolation than their White peers—demographic characteristics that are strongly correlated with low levels of school readiness and poor academic achievement.  
 
“Head Start is a key component to addressing the educational crisis facing the Latino community. Given Yvette’s background, we now have a Director of the Office of Head Start who understands the needs of low-income and migrant families and has firsthand experience in reaching them with early learning programs. We look forward to working with her to strengthen Head Start for Hispanic children and families,” said Iris Chavez, HEC Co-Chair and Education Policy Coordinator at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
 
The Hispanic Education Coalition unites 26 organizations that are dedicated to improving educational opportunities for the nearly 50 million Latinos living in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The HEC focuses on federal legislative and administrative policy issues relating to education, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act, the Higher Education Act, the Workforce Investment Act, adequate federal funding for education, and the educational concerns of English language learners. In each of these areas, the HEC strives to ensure that education policy at the federal level reflects the priorities of the Latino community.

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