Announcing the Launch of the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families

February 20, 2014

BETHESDA, Md.—Child Trends and Abt Associates are pleased to announce the launch of the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families (Center).

“Hispanics represent the largest, and one of the fastest growing minority population subgroups in the U.S.,” said Lina Guzman, senior program area director at Child Trends and Center co-principal investigator. “The Center is dedicated to providing timely research-based findings and tools to help inform how programs and policy can better serve Hispanic children and families.”

The Center is made up of a team of national experts in Hispanic issues, and is a hub of research to improve the lives of Hispanics across three priority areas—(1) poverty reduction and self-sufficiency, (2) healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood, and (3) early care and education.

The Center was established in 2013 with a $5.2 million, five year cooperative agreement from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Child Trends in partnership with Abt Associates and university partners (University of Maryland-College Park; University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and the Institute for Human Development and Social Change, New York University).

The Center is grounded in a four-pronged approach:

1. A programmatic and practice focus. The Center’s activities are driven by how research can generate new knowledge and inform programming and policy decision-making, and how to better support the well-being of Hispanic families.
2. An applied focus. The Center will translate emerging research into recommendations for providers, programs, policymakers, and researchers.
3. An asset-based framework. The Center will leverage strengths of the Hispanic community to provide opportunities for responsive and effective service delivery strategies.
4. An eye on both national- and local-level issues. This is critical as many services are designed, delivered, and financed at the state or local level, and because the characteristics and needs of Hispanic families vary by region.

The Center is pleased to announce a Summer Research Fellowship Program. “In order to attract, develop, and expand the pool of emerging scholars focused on studying issues of relevance to low-income and vulnerable Hispanic children and families,” said Michael López, principal associate at Abt Associates and Center co-principal investigator, “the program will expose students to rigorous research in an applied setting aimed at impacting programmatic and policy issues of relevance to Hispanic children and families.”

The Center welcomes requests for more information about its work and/or partnership opportunities – please contact either Lina Guzman, Ph.D. (lguzman@childtrends.org) or Michael López, Ph.D. (Michael_Lopez@Abtassoc.com).

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About Child Trends

Child Trends, based in Bethesda, Md., is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that provides valuable information and insights on the well-being of children and youth. For more than 30 years, policymakers, funders, educators and service providers in the U.S. and around the world have relied on our data and analyses to improve policies and programs serving children and youth. Our work is supported by foundations; federal, state and local government agencies; and by nonprofit organizations. Child Trends has more than 100 employees and annual revenue of about $13 million. childtrends.org

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