Building Bridges, Breaking Down Barriers, Reaching Latino Families

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Building Bridges, Breaking Down Barriers,
Reaching Latino Families

• Peggie Garner, County Extension Director
• Ana Rosa Reyes, CYFAR Program Assistant
• Robin Taylor, Extension Agent Family and Consumer
  Sciences
• North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Onslow
  County

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Topics for Todays Session

• First Things First
• What works
• (Some) Hispanic Cultural Norms
• What Latino parents told us
• Determining the Need
• What did we learn?
• Partnerships
• Summary

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Let people know . . .

• you are sincere
• you are who you say you are
• and you and your organization are going to be
  involved for the long-term.
• then do it

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What works

• Develop a trusting and personal relationship with
  Latino families.
• Pay particular attention to language and literacy
  rates in your audience.

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What works

• Establish community networks and partnerships who
  already serve the Latino population.
• Use marketing tactics that will get to themword
  of mouth was best for our area.
• Dont be in a hurry to move the process of
  teaching along.

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What works

• Be sensitive to where the majority and the
  minority of Latinos in your community are from.
• Less formal atmospherewatch dress, room set-up,
  greeting style, even presentation style.

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What works

• Develop a relationship with a key person or two.
• Have presenters who are Spanish speakers--- or at
  least have translators that know the material
  wellmisunderstanding some material can be
  critical.

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What works

• Be careful not to have a one size fits all
  program.
• Make it personalto fit their needs, not yours.
• Find ways to be a presence in their community
• Be flexible.

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Know about Hispanic Culture

• Family unity
• Loyalty to family
• Cooperation rather than competition among family
  members
• Familismstrong identification with members of
  the extended family
• We assume these are somewhat true for most Latino
  familiesbut it is a generalization.

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More cultural norms

• Traditional Latino families are considered
  hierarchical, with special authority given to
  elderly, parents, males, older siblings, and
  authority figures.
• Sex roles are clearly delineated in most Latino
  families. Men are expected to be strong,
  dominant, and the provider, whereas women are
  expected to be nurturing, submissive to the male,
  and self-sacrificing.

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Latino parents said when working with Latino
audiences

• Develop programs for entire Latino families.
• Be sensitive to the many differences that exist
  within the same culture due to socioeconomic
  levels, place of origin, and education.
• Parent education programs that are developed
  should most definitely be informal meetings.
• Host programs in familiar settings with child
  care available.

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Determine the Need

• Form Latino Advisory Council
• Conduct Focus Groups
• Interview Agencies, Organizations, and Businesses
  that Service or Work with Members of the Latino
  Community
• Others Research
• Cultural Guide

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What did we learn?

• Make Workshops Culturally Friendly
• Provide Child Care
• Dont Lecture
• Present helpful strategies as suggestions not
  rules
• Assist them in understanding new concepts
• i.e. What is a 401K? An IRA?

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What did we learn?

• If you advertise something, provide it!
• Leave stacks of flyers for advertising rather
  than hang one flyer in the window.
• Door prizes are important.
• Have experts planted in the room.

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Developing Partnerships with Community
Leaders/Organizations

• Develop partnerships with respected community
  leaders or organizations.
• Do this with an attitude of knowing that we have
  much to learn from community leader or
  organizations.
• Be partners in developing programming,
  presenting information, and publishing.

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In Summary

• It is all about relationships.
• Some strategies will fail.
• Developing partnerships is critical.
• It takes time.
• Be Patient