March 19, 2026 • 10 mins
·Children First, one of Pennsylvania’s leading advocates for children and families, is shining a light on the needs of Hispanic youth in Philadelphia through its groundbreaking Pa’lante report—the first comprehensive analysis of Hispanic children and teens in the city. While Hispanic families are making strides in areas like early childhood education and economic mobility, the report also reveals persistent challenges, including gaps in academic achievement, access to healthcare, and overall well-being.
In response, Children First has launched a new multi-generational initiative that brings together Hispanic leaders, advocates, and community members to develop long-term solutions and drive meaningful change.
In this episode, we’re joined by Angie Pabon, Program Officer with the Philadelphia Foundation and Javier Saurez, Board of Directors President at Children First and Executive Director at Live Work Philadelphia who shares insights from the Pa’lante report and how this collaborative effort aims to create a brighter, more equitable future for Hispanic children and families across our region.
🔗 Learn More & Get Involved
🌐 Website: https://www.childrenfirstpa.org
📊 Pa’lante Report: https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/palante
📱 Facebook: Children First PA
📸 Instagram: @childrenfirstpa
🐦 Twitter/X: @childrenfirstpa
In response, Children First has launched a new multi-generational initiative that brings together Hispanic leaders, advocates, and community members to develop long-term solutions and drive meaningful change.
In this episode, we’re joined by Angie Pabon, Program Officer with the Philadelphia Foundation and Javier Saurez, Board of Directors President at Children First and Executive Director at Live Work Philadelphia who shares insights from the Pa’lante report and how this collaborative effort aims to create a brighter, more equitable future for Hispanic children and families across our region.
🔗 Learn More & Get Involved
🌐 Website: https://www.childrenfirstpa.org
📊 Pa’lante Report: https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/palante
📱 Facebook: Children First PA
📸 Instagram: @childrenfirstpa
🐦 Twitter/X: @childrenfirstpa
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow. We're going to talk
about the green Light Fund Philadelphia, an organization that connects
communities with high impact nonprofits to create real pathways to opportunity.
We'll also check in with Girls Ink Delaware, empowering girls
across the state, and we'll tell you about an exhibit
(00:20):
that explores Uroba and Santaia. But First, Philadelphia's Latino community
is one of the fastest growing in the region, with
nearly seventy thousand children, and while many families are making strides,
new data shows serious gaps in education, healthcare, and access
to resources. A new report from Children First Palante Improving
(00:41):
the Lives of Philadelphia's Hispanic Children, supported by the Philadelphia Foundation,
is not only shining a light on these disparities, but
launching a powerful community driven initiative to address them. Now,
leaders across the city are coming together to create a
long term plan to improve outcomes for Hispanic children in teens,
grounded and lived experience, data and advocacy. Joining us now
(01:04):
are Angie Pagon, Program Director of the Philadelphia Foundation and
Javier Suarez, Executive director of Live Work Philadelphia and board
chair of Children First to talk about what this effort
means for families across the region. Well, let's start with you, Javier.
Let's look at the big picture. What is the Palante
initiative and why is this moment so critical for Latino
(01:27):
children and families in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, thank you, Loraine.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
This report is important.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Because it's i guess, a one of a kind, maybe
historic document that brings really needed data and recommendations to
the public, information that not only families can look at
and use, but also elected officials, stakeholders in a city,
people who ultimately make decisions for that affect the lives
(01:54):
of Philadelphia's And from a big picture perspective, Philadelphia continues
to change and evolved, and today the demographics in the
city reflect the growing population of the Hispanic community. Whereby
years ago, or maybe just ten or twenty years ago,
the community might have been less than ten percent of
the city. Now we're approaching twenty percent of the city.
(02:17):
When we look at some of the specific.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Areas around education, we see that Hispanics, especially children, are
a greater proportion of the students that are in our
public schools and in schools in general.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It's basically a reflection of the Hispanic community, but it's
really becoming a reflection of the conditions and the situations
that Philadelphians are in as well through the lens of
a report dedicated to the Latino community Angie.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
As Savier Suarez mentioned, there are certainly challenges as far
as education is concerned. Can you talk more about some
of the serious disparities what stood out in the findings
regarding education and healthcare.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Similarly to the nationwide, the Hispanic population here in Philly
is young. We have a lot of new parents and
young kids that are basically beginning their lives here in
Philadelphia and in many other communities in Pennsylvania, and we
need more places for them to do preschool and to
(03:22):
do childcare and to really be exposed to the social
and basic education framework, which is going to help the
young kids be creative and learn the love of learning.
Love of learning is something you learn very early in life.
In your first zero to six you learn about going
(03:43):
to school, and you know being with your friends and
learning your ABCS and year one, two threes, and so
it's important to expand opportunities for this largest growing segment
of our city population create the opportunities for them to
be basically thrive. The other issue is healthcare. We still
(04:04):
have a gap. Children First has been on the forefront
of getting Medicaid to expand statewide and has an incredible advocacy,
and we still have gaps and funding, especially for children
of immigrants. The parents may not be citizens, but the
children are, and many times the children fall through the
(04:25):
cracks because the parents are basically living without insurance. So
that's another big issue. And then finally, like Javier was saying,
the majority of the population that is moving into our
public schools are Hispanic students, but we have a huge
gap when it comes to having Hispanic teachers in the classroom.
(04:46):
Not only do they reflect having a Hispanic teacher reflect
back to the young people the importance of education, but
everything from the multi language skills, to the connection to
our countries of origin, all of the that really helps
keep the young people connected and the children and youth
connected to their educational lives. That needs to be expanded. Also,
(05:08):
the outcomes of citywide. We know that our schools underperform
in maths, science, and in reading, and our Hispanic students
are in the same situation, so they need additional learning time.
And then finally, they also need to be getting a
connection between whatever it is that they're learning in school
(05:29):
and a career. We really need to teach more technology
to our kids in schools and connect them to technology
jobs and jobs in science, and jobs in areas where
there will be growth in the coming years, not in
areas where the jobs are ending, like in retail, or
areas that they won't be able to have a living wage.
(05:51):
So it's important to be exposing them to lifelong careers
in the process as well.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Right, and for both of you, As you mentioned, representation
really does matter, especially when it comes to education. But
it certainly is true throughout our city and our society.
What are some other systemic barriers contributing to these disparities
both in education and in healthcare?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The Alante Report that reveals a lot of the things
that Benji just touched on.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
It's available to anyone on the Children First website. It's
also available in English and Spanish, which is one of
the things that I think is necessary for elected officials
and for stakeholders to know that having bilingual education.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Having that information available bilingual is absolutely critical for a
community that is still emerging in many ways. So I
think what the report does is really highlight where some
of these sometimes fractures exist, but more than anything else,
disparities and what are the systems that are in place
(06:58):
that we need to either over or replaced in order
for this community to come forward together.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, there's also lots of opportunities for the community to
provide feedback and be engaged as well as you're gathering
some of the influential Latino leaders in the area to
work together to come up with solutions. But tell us
more about how we can interact with this report and
with this campaign.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
The additional step after the report was to create a
fellowship in which we identified emerging leaders across our different
communities all over the city, whether Northeast or south and
whether Mexican community South Philly or Central American community Northeast
or Puerto Rican communities and Dominican communities in North Philly,
(07:49):
just kind of knowing that we really need arms and
legs and brains to really push this agenda ahead. We
still need people to pick up the orcommendations and take
them into action. One thing that you said that is
asked in your question about where there's still some gaps.
There's still huge gaps in STEM. Not only are we
(08:10):
seeing not enough for presentation and teaching careers, but we
don't have enough for presentation in hospital careers, psychology, all
of these areas in which you know, people are looking
to their dentists to maybe speak Spanish to be able
to understand better what's going on, or to mental health,
you know, all of these. In all these fields, we
(08:32):
have a dearth of a Hispanic representation. So it's pretty
much across the board, and I think we need to
continue to push the systems to help us support creating
career paths for Hispanic folks to do these careers.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So this Plenty Fellowship is bringing together community leaders and
members of the community also invited to listening sessions. How
do we find out about all these different things? Who
are the people that you would like to reach?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So there's going to be many ways that people can
get involved. We're actively inviting people to these community forums,
but people can visit the Children First website. We're also
looking to see if there's more members that might want
to be a part of our fellowship. Program will be
very very active in getting to communities to really have
(09:24):
conversations that are going to really matter to everyday founds.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Well, this is very exciting. A new report from Children First,
funded by the Philadelphia Foundation Palante, improving the lives of
Philadelphia's Hispanic children, is shining a light on the disparities
that exist, but also launching a powerful community driven initiative
to address them. Thank you so much, Antie Pagone, who
is Program officer at the Philadelphia Foundation in Jafier Suarez,
(09:50):
executive director of Live Work Philadelphia, and board chair of
Children First, which is just doing some wonderful advocacy work
to elevate the lives and the health and the education
of all of our young people and children. So thank
you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Thank you, Loree.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We'll have more insight after these messages.
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow. We're going to talk
about the green Light Fund Philadelphia, an organization that connects
communities with high impact nonprofits to create real pathways to opportunity.
We'll also check in with Girls Ink Delaware, empowering girls
across the state, and we'll tell you about an exhibit
(00:20):
that explores Uroba and Santaia. But First, Philadelphia's Latino community
is one of the fastest growing in the region, with
nearly seventy thousand children, and while many families are making strides,
new data shows serious gaps in education, healthcare, and access
to resources. A new report from Children First Palante Improving
(00:41):
the Lives of Philadelphia's Hispanic Children, supported by the Philadelphia Foundation,
is not only shining a light on these disparities, but
launching a powerful community driven initiative to address them. Now,
leaders across the city are coming together to create a
long term plan to improve outcomes for Hispanic children in teens,
grounded and lived experience, data and advocacy. Joining us now
(01:04):
are Angie Pagon, Program Director of the Philadelphia Foundation and
Javier Suarez, Executive director of Live Work Philadelphia and board
chair of Children First to talk about what this effort
means for families across the region. Well, let's start with you, Javier.
Let's look at the big picture. What is the Palante
initiative and why is this moment so critical for Latino
(01:27):
children and families in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, thank you, Loraine.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
This report is important.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Because it's i guess, a one of a kind, maybe
historic document that brings really needed data and recommendations to
the public, information that not only families can look at
and use, but also elected officials, stakeholders in a city,
people who ultimately make decisions for that affect the lives
(01:54):
of Philadelphia's And from a big picture perspective, Philadelphia continues
to change and evolved, and today the demographics in the
city reflect the growing population of the Hispanic community. Whereby
years ago, or maybe just ten or twenty years ago,
the community might have been less than ten percent of
the city. Now we're approaching twenty percent of the city.
(02:17):
When we look at some of the specific.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Areas around education, we see that Hispanics, especially children, are
a greater proportion of the students that are in our
public schools and in schools in general.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It's basically a reflection of the Hispanic community, but it's
really becoming a reflection of the conditions and the situations
that Philadelphians are in as well through the lens of
a report dedicated to the Latino community Angie.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
As Savier Suarez mentioned, there are certainly challenges as far
as education is concerned. Can you talk more about some
of the serious disparities what stood out in the findings
regarding education and healthcare.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Similarly to the nationwide, the Hispanic population here in Philly
is young. We have a lot of new parents and
young kids that are basically beginning their lives here in
Philadelphia and in many other communities in Pennsylvania, and we
need more places for them to do preschool and to
(03:22):
do childcare and to really be exposed to the social
and basic education framework, which is going to help the
young kids be creative and learn the love of learning.
Love of learning is something you learn very early in life.
In your first zero to six you learn about going
(03:43):
to school, and you know being with your friends and
learning your ABCS and year one, two threes, and so
it's important to expand opportunities for this largest growing segment
of our city population create the opportunities for them to
be basically thrive. The other issue is healthcare. We still
(04:04):
have a gap. Children First has been on the forefront
of getting Medicaid to expand statewide and has an incredible advocacy,
and we still have gaps and funding, especially for children
of immigrants. The parents may not be citizens, but the
children are, and many times the children fall through the
(04:25):
cracks because the parents are basically living without insurance. So
that's another big issue. And then finally, like Javier was saying,
the majority of the population that is moving into our
public schools are Hispanic students, but we have a huge
gap when it comes to having Hispanic teachers in the classroom.
(04:46):
Not only do they reflect having a Hispanic teacher reflect
back to the young people the importance of education, but
everything from the multi language skills, to the connection to
our countries of origin, all of the that really helps
keep the young people connected and the children and youth
connected to their educational lives. That needs to be expanded. Also,
(05:08):
the outcomes of citywide. We know that our schools underperform
in maths, science, and in reading, and our Hispanic students
are in the same situation, so they need additional learning time.
And then finally, they also need to be getting a
connection between whatever it is that they're learning in school
(05:29):
and a career. We really need to teach more technology
to our kids in schools and connect them to technology
jobs and jobs in science, and jobs in areas where
there will be growth in the coming years, not in
areas where the jobs are ending, like in retail, or
areas that they won't be able to have a living wage.
(05:51):
So it's important to be exposing them to lifelong careers
in the process as well.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Right, and for both of you, As you mentioned, representation
really does matter, especially when it comes to education. But
it certainly is true throughout our city and our society.
What are some other systemic barriers contributing to these disparities
both in education and in healthcare?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The Alante Report that reveals a lot of the things
that Benji just touched on.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
It's available to anyone on the Children First website. It's
also available in English and Spanish, which is one of
the things that I think is necessary for elected officials
and for stakeholders to know that having bilingual education.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Having that information available bilingual is absolutely critical for a
community that is still emerging in many ways. So I
think what the report does is really highlight where some
of these sometimes fractures exist, but more than anything else,
disparities and what are the systems that are in place
(06:58):
that we need to either over or replaced in order
for this community to come forward together.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, there's also lots of opportunities for the community to
provide feedback and be engaged as well as you're gathering
some of the influential Latino leaders in the area to
work together to come up with solutions. But tell us
more about how we can interact with this report and
with this campaign.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
The additional step after the report was to create a
fellowship in which we identified emerging leaders across our different
communities all over the city, whether Northeast or south and
whether Mexican community South Philly or Central American community Northeast
or Puerto Rican communities and Dominican communities in North Philly,
(07:49):
just kind of knowing that we really need arms and
legs and brains to really push this agenda ahead. We
still need people to pick up the orcommendations and take
them into action. One thing that you said that is
asked in your question about where there's still some gaps.
There's still huge gaps in STEM. Not only are we
(08:10):
seeing not enough for presentation and teaching careers, but we
don't have enough for presentation in hospital careers, psychology, all
of these areas in which you know, people are looking
to their dentists to maybe speak Spanish to be able
to understand better what's going on, or to mental health,
you know, all of these. In all these fields, we
(08:32):
have a dearth of a Hispanic representation. So it's pretty
much across the board, and I think we need to
continue to push the systems to help us support creating
career paths for Hispanic folks to do these careers.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So this Plenty Fellowship is bringing together community leaders and
members of the community also invited to listening sessions. How
do we find out about all these different things? Who
are the people that you would like to reach?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So there's going to be many ways that people can
get involved. We're actively inviting people to these community forums,
but people can visit the Children First website. We're also
looking to see if there's more members that might want
to be a part of our fellowship. Program will be
very very active in getting to communities to really have
(09:24):
conversations that are going to really matter to everyday founds.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Well, this is very exciting. A new report from Children First,
funded by the Philadelphia Foundation Palante, improving the lives of
Philadelphia's Hispanic children, is shining a light on the disparities
that exist, but also launching a powerful community driven initiative
to address them. Thank you so much, Antie Pagone, who
is Program officer at the Philadelphia Foundation in Jafier Suarez,
(09:50):
executive director of Live Work Philadelphia, and board chair of
Children First, which is just doing some wonderful advocacy work
to elevate the lives and the health and the education
of all of our young people and children. So thank
you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Thank you, Loree.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We'll have more insight after these messages.
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