National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families awarded five-year, $5 million grant

October 24, 2018

The National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families has received over $5 million in government funding to continue its comprehensive research on the status and well-being of Hispanic children and families in the United States. Over the next five years, the Center will pursue an ambitious, interdisciplinary agenda focused on improving researchers’, practitioners’, and policymakers’ understanding of how to support Latino children and families’ economic mobility, prosperity, and well-being. Research will explore strategies around employment, access to early care and education, parenting, and family stability, with a focus on low-income children and families.

“Latinos are the largest—and one of the fastest-growing—racial and ethnic population in the United States, and they are disproportionately young. However, policymakers and practitioners often lack a complete picture of the strengths, challenges, and diversity of Hispanic children and families,” said Lina Guzman, principal investigator for the Center. “Our research agenda will help provide policymakers, researchers, and practitioners the evidence and tools they need to develop policies, programs, and services that support the well-being of Latinos. This is timely and essential, as Latino children will make up an increasing proportion of our country’s population and workforce.”

The Center’s research agenda aims to improve the field’s current understanding of Hispanic children and families by:

• Examining how state policies and practices affect Hispanic families’ access to and utilization of government benefits that both promote parents’ economic self-sufficiency and benefit children and future generations
• Filling in gaps in the current knowledge base about low-income Hispanic family life—specifically regarding marriage and relationships, parenting, fatherhood and gender norms, and family functioning
• Better connecting Hispanic children and families with high-quality, affordable, and culturally and linguistically responsive early care and education
• Learning how economic resources and mobility impact parenting behaviors, family functioning, and children’s well-being

Child Trends received this $5 million cooperative agreement from the Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation, an office of the Administration for Children & Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Center has been continuously funded since 2013 and is led by Child Trends in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago; the Institute for Human Development and Social Change at New York University; the University of Maryland, College Park; and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.