Univision and Too Small to Fail expand partnership to help Hispanic Children

Univision Communications Inc. announced a new commitment in partnership with Too Small to Fail, a joint effort of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and Next Generation, to help Hispanic parents and caregivers boost early brain development and improve early learning among Hispanic children from birth to age five.  The commitment, unveiled in conjunction with today’s White House Early Learning Summit, builds on “Pequeños y Valiosos” (Young and Valuable), the joint campaign launched by Univision and Too Small to Fail in February 2014 that has since reached millions of Hispanic families with messages, tools and resources.
 
Univision and Too Small to Fail will deepen and strengthen “Pequeños y Valiosos” in 2015 by:
 
    •    Introducing new programming that integrates messages about early numeracy, the science behind early brain development and the benefits of bilingualism;
 
    •    Expanding reach to be more inclusive of fathers, grandparents and other caregivers with more than 200 million media impressions reinforcing the importance of talking, reading and singing to young children and highlighting the benefits of bilingualism;
 
    •    Providing no fewer than 100,000 Hispanic families with materials, tools, and resources on early literacy, early brain development and early numeracy, through digital content, a new interactive text messaging platform, mobile apps, and dozens of Univision-sponsored community events across the country;
 
    •    Developing and implementing new tools to empower Hispanic parents to better navigate relationships with childcare providers and assess the quality of childcare centers; and,
 
    •    Increasing the number of Hispanic families who have pledged to spend at least 15 minutes every day talking, reading or singing to their young children to over 35,000 families – representing at least 3.5 million hours pledged to these activities in 2015.
 
The expansion efforts will be greatly enhanced by a new collaboration between “Pequeños y Valiosos” and Vroom, an early learning initiative of the Bezos Family Foundation, to integrate Vroom’s positive brain-building messages, parent tools and technology into “Pequeños y Valiosos” in 2015.  Vroom and “Pequeños y Valiosos” will empower families with actionable information about the science of early childhood; provide timely prompts to encourage brain-building interactions between parents and children; and deliver tools to help parents develop early numeracy skills in toddlers, as well as tips about how to incorporate more talking, reading, and singing to their children into their daily lives.
 
Throughout 2015, “Pequeños y Valiosos” will continue to provide Hispanic parents and caregivers with the latest news and information about early brain development and early learning, through regular news features produced by Univision News, special programming and public service announcements produced by the award-winning Univision Contigo community empowerment team, as well as free online resources for parents from Univision and a range of community partners at www.univision.com/educacion.
 
“Pequeños y Valiosos” is part of Univision Contigo, Univision’s community empowerment platform that delivers programs to support the U.S. Hispanic community in the areas of education, health, prosperity and civic participation. The Heising-Simons Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation provided financial resources to support the production of the “Pequeños y Valiosos” campaign in 2014.
 
This is the second time this year that Too Small To Fail has worked with the White House and early childhood community leaders to support early learning and help close the “word gap” — or, the disparity in words that children living in lower-income families hear and learn compared to those in higher-income families. In October, Too Small To Fail joined the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Urban Institute, U.S. Department of Education, and Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to highlight the ways that communities across the country are tackling this serious but solvable challenge.