WACO, Texas (FOX 44) – The next generation of Waco students needs your help to be successful.
The non-profit organization Inspiracíon is working on getting Hispanic kids under the age of four ready for kindergarten.
Getting the kids ready for school can be a challenge, but this non-profit is working on making this less challenging.
“There’s going to be a lot of Hispanic families, [they] are going to be looking for educational opportunities,” says Inspiracíon Chairman Benjamin Gomez. “But more importantly, establishments that they trust. That they can identify with their educators.”
The non-profit focuses on empowering at-risk Latino families to break the cycle of poverty by fostering parenting knowledge and skills which directly impact childrens’ development.
“Inspiracíon can really help the gap, or historically, a marginalized population that have had limited access to, you know, preschool education. We can now fill that gap in communities like ours,” Gomez said.
With language being a barrier for many Hispanic households, the non-profit offers a Spanish program which helps parents and children to excel.
“We got first individualized attention,” Gomez said. “We’ve got parent educators, we’ve got a trained staff, and we’ve also got a curriculum-based approach to how we teach both our children and our parents that are participating.”
Parents enrolled in the program work with a specialist as they learn the importance of being actively involved in their child’s educational journey.
“We got teacher assistants that are playing with our kiddos, and really working through a curriculum-based approach. {To} help them meet their social, emotional, and cognitive milestones,” Gomez said.
Which is important to target at a young age.
“We try to give the children as much structure as they need, similar to what they’ll experience when they get into a kindergarten setting,” Gomez said.
The program is available to parents Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Inspiracíon would love to expand their resouces as the Hispanic population grows in Waco.
“If anybody wants to commit their time or resources to a program like Inspiracíon, myself or the other board members would like to discuss with them about how they can contribute,” Gomez said.
If you are interested in contributing, you can visit the organization’s official website here.
