NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE— A four-week pilot program in Spanish, run by the Community Training Engagement Center, looks to address the state’s early childhood education labor shortage by supporting immigrant women to enter the workforce.  The training looks to assist Latinas who may be interested in becoming in-home care providers or opening their own daycares. The Childcare Initiative is supported by the United Way of Greater Nashua and funding from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.  Nine Latinas have recently graduated from the course—including Eloina Alvarado, who has an early childhood education degree in her home country of Honduras—according to New Hampshire Public Radio. The program looks to provide state-wide credentials to residents who may have informal experiences caring for relatives, friends, and neighbors or formal credentials in childhood education from their home countries.  The course covers the legal requirements to be a childhood provider such as emergency planning, child development theory, [...]

CHICAGO ⸺The night before her first day of college, 23-year-old Samantha Caldera said she stayed up and cried with her cousins because they knew they couldn’t do anything to change their housing situation. Caldera was living doubled up at her grandparents’ three-bedroom home in Maplewood, Chicago, at the time, along with eight other relatives, an experience she said often led her to feel “stuffed” in her own home. “We felt helpless because we were all just students who could not contribute to a big solution,” Caldera said. “Doubling-up,” or when a person temporarily lives with others, is the most common way members of the Latinx community experience homelessness, according to a report by the Chicago Coalition For The Homeless. SUGGESTION: ‘Doubling Up’ Homelessness: An Invisible Crisis The fate of the Bring Chicago Home referendum proposing an increase in the city’s real estate transfer tax for properties over $1 million, with [...]

Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero, a final-year student at the University of Washington, has been named the Hortencia Zavala Foundation (HZF) intern. Jimenez Romero is the first award recipient providing funding for paid internships. She will be working with the Washington Latino News and The Tribune News. Jimenez Romero is pursuing a double major in journalism, public interest communication, law, societies, and justice. Additionally, she has chosen to minor in diversity and environmental studies. As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Jimenez Romero is passionate about crafting human-interest narratives that highlight and empower underrepresented communities. “As a daughter of immigrants, I grew up listening to narratives that weren’t reflective of my community. Journalism and the media play a huge role in uplifting diverse narratives and bringing their voices to the forefront,” said Jimenez Romero. “I’m excited to intern with Washington Latino News and learn how to use solutions journalism to uplift Latino voices [...]