Miriam Calderón, MSW is an education policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization and an umbrella for community-based organizations serving Latinos. It's her "dream job," working to empower the entire Latino community by supporting opportunities for its youngest members.

Ms. Calderón began her career working with gang-affected youth in Portland, Oregon. She observed their patterns of poor literacy and high dropout rates and wondered, "When are they not learning to read?" Later, while earning her master's degree at Portland State University, she worked in Head Start centers and identified early education as key to addressing these problems.

In her own family, she admits, pre-k just "wasn't on the radar screen," but she insists it's only a lack of information that keeps Latino families away. Once provided with tools and information, they are eager to participate. Ms. Calderón says Latinos, contrary to popular misconceptions, strongly support and encourage education and "believe in the American Dream."

Recently, Ms. Calderón has devoted much of her time to Head Start reauthorization and California's preschool-for-all initiative. She is quick to point out the latter measure's importance to Latino early education efforts. "One in two pre-k-aged children in California is Latino, and we've worked hard to see that this program is a high-quality benchmark.... There are important provisions that will really support Hispanic families." Ms. Calderón's role has been to help build and support a coalition of local advocates, parents, providers, and community leaders by providing workshops, resources, and political experience. She has also worked with local policymakers to influence specific language in the measure. NCLR, along with key affiliates, has promoted three provisions: a mixed-delivery system, a diverse, well-prepared workforce, and culturally sensitive parent-engagement programs.

Ms. Calderón says pre-k advocacy still needs a Latino-specific voice, but, she adds, the role of Latinos within the landscape has evolved from audience to contributors, which she views as highly positive. Latinos, she says, are increasingly informed on the issue, and the larger movement is making room for minorities at the table.

Policymakers, she says, often have much to learn about their Latino constituents. In encouraging legislator support for high quality and necessary resources, she focuses on children's potential contributions rather than on reducing illiteracy and crime. The investment, she emphasizes, is in a positive strategy not a preventative measure.

Ms. Calderón says now is an ideal time to be promoting early education at NCLR where new president, Janet Murguia, is making pre-k a priority. She points out that pre-k is critical to closing the school-readiness gap between Latino children and their peers and to building foundations for school and life success. Moreover, pre-k presents an opportunity for families to become informed and empowered about the education system.

Ms. Calderón believes that future success depends upon keeping diverse voices in the debate, and on nurturing the desire, which she perceives among lawmakers, to grow pre-k. She encourages advocates to think creatively and cites the recent trend of economic analyses as exemplary. She calls the new focus on pre-k for all "exciting," and sees pre-k "taking its place in the [larger] education debate."

For the Latino community, particularly in high-quality pre-k states like Arkansas and North Carolina, the future means more rapid growth. For these emerging populations, programs that support integration are essential. "Latinos are important stakeholders; they're one in five pre-k kids. If [pre-k] doesn't work well for Latinos, it isn't going to work well for our country."

Ms. Calderón identifies her work as fundamentally hopeful, and, unlike many other political fields, positive at its core. It's about small children and bright futures, and this, she says, fosters receptiveness and bipartisanship. "It's work on the front-end; it's feel-good work."