Description:
The Urban Institute has explored the unique barriers to preschool participation for low-income children in Silicon Valley in two reports. The first provides a demographic profile of low-income preschool-age children in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties (Hanson, Adams, and Koball 2016). One of its most important findings is that nearly three-quarters of all low-income children from birth to age 5 in Silicon Valley are the children of immigrants--persons born outside the United States and its territories, including naturalized citizens, legal permanent residents (green card holders), temporary workers (H1B visa holders), and undocumented residents. Although most of these children have parents from Mexico and Central America, a significant minority have parents from other countries. These patterns suggest that any effort to understand preschool participation among low-income families in Silicon Valley must account for barriers facing immigrant families, as well as the challenges of linguistic diversity, immigrant isolation, and resource requirements for culturally sensitive programming. While Silicon Valley has an unusually large low-income immigrant population, other parts of the country experiencing significant increases in the size and diversity of their low-income immigrant populations can gain insight from this research. This second report explores the particular barriers to preschool participation faced by low-income immigrant families in Silicon Valley. We rely upon interviews and meetings with experts and stakeholders from early childhood and immigrant-serving organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, as well as a systematic review of existing reports and data. While we were not able to collect information directly from immigrant parents, we did talk to individuals who work closely with them. Nonetheless, parents' perspectives would be useful to include in future analyses. (author abstract)
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Executive Summary
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