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Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES)

CLUES (Spanish for Latino Communities United in Service) is Minnesota’s largest Latino-led nonprofit organization, founded in 1981 by and for Latinos to provide culturally and linguistically relevant services. The organization's mission is to advance social and economic equity and well-being for Latinos by building upon their strengths and cultures, uplifting the community and activating leadership for systemic change.


CLUES will support children aged 0 to 5 in Latino families by addressing disparities in school readiness and engaging the whole family in services to enhance their well-being. CLUES will partner with Latino parents and system partners to create community-based solutions and implement recommendations to best meet their holistic needs.

Prototypes

Local community organization grantees work with families to create innovative program designs called “prototypes”, which address racial disparities in human services and outcomes facing the families in their community.

Sembrando Éxitos: Unidos por la Educación (Sowing Success United for Education)

The goal of this culturally grounded learning academy for parents as first teachers is to bring families together to participate in group learning focused on the fundamental areas of parenting and family health, tailored to the needs and interests of the Latino community. The topics of the curriculum were co-designed with a parent advisory group and include mental health, nutrition, social-emotional development, early literacy development, early language and literacy development and other topics.

En sus marcas, listos... a leer! (Ready, Set, Read!)

This culturally-based series of online early literacy workshops include bilingual resources and targets families with children between 3-5 years old. Participants receive practical advice to establish daily routines that build the foundation for reading and writing success.

Early Childhood Education and Engagement Hub

The Early Childhood Education and Engagement Hub is a response to Latino families and Family, Friend and Neighbor child care providers’ needs and creates a community space to incubate and implement successful interventions. The hub will help Latino parents overcome barriers to obtaining affordable childcare, close early language and literacy gaps for Latino children and foster wealth-building for Latino childcare providers to launch or formalize their own businesses. 

The hub will support Family, Friend and Neighbor providers in becoming licensed family child care providers or care for children in their family by becoming a legally non-licensed provider at their own home. Family, Friend and Neighbor providers receive access to: 

  • Resources and training
  • Counseling supports
  • Education on community resources
  • An educational kit that includes bilingual books activities and educational games for children 0-5 years of age
  • Monthly workshops related to early education and personal care of child caregivers
  • Participation in Circle of Support which provides monthly emotional/mental support to childcare providers
  • Resources to pay for necessary arrangements to pass inspection required training needed to be a licensed or legal non-licensed provider; and 
  • Help applying for training and licensure

These resources are provided in Spanish at a trusted location in the community.

News and resources

Video: CLUES partners with the Minnesota Department of Education to connect families with schools | CLUES and Minnesota Department of Education

This video shows real-life examples of how CLUES's prototypes helped Latino families by addressing early language and literacy disparities.

Watch video

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