Presents findings from a research study that identifies the successes and challenges of immigrant families accessing early childhood education in New York City and recommends policies to improve access. The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), one of five agencies tasked to study immigrant family experiences, prepared this policy brief based on families from Bangladesh, China, Haiti, Korea, Russia, and the Dominican Republic. Anecdotal evidence from child care and immigrant advocates, child care program directors, and parents identified the following barriers to accessing early childhood education: inadequate translation services and culturally sensitive child care providers and materials; ineffective outreach through ethnic media outlets to inform immigrant communities of available services; child care professionals who are not educated on the unique needs of immigrant families; high cost of child care programs and lack of funding to develop new programs; and an ineffectivegovernment response to the needs of immigrant families. Improvements fall into five categories: (1) increase translation services and cultural competency of program staff; (2) improve outreach through increased language accessible communication channels; (3) raise child care funding for immigrant families; (4) develop professional workshops to inform case workers of the challenges and strengths within immigrant communities; and (5) conduct needs assessments within immigrant communities.
