Telenovela as Teacher: Innovations With Univision, Too Small to Fail and Literacy Partners

During this October 13, 2020 webinar, part of our Learning Loss Recovery Challenge series, Patti Miller, CEO of Too Small to Fail at The Clinton Foundation, moderated a discussion with colleagues who are leading an innovative partnership that is working to strengthen early brain and language development among young Latino children. Together, the partners have produced a multi-platform Spanish-language media campaign called Pequeños y Valiosos (Young and Valuable) that provides Latino families with information and tools on early literacy, early brain development, early numeracy and the power of bilingualism.

Claudia Bojorquez, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Social Impact / CSR at Univision, shared the 60-year history of Univision’s commitment to empowering the Hispanic community, leading to its current status as the trusted messenger on social issues. Univision actively seeks partners like Too Small to Fail and Literacy Partners, who have the subject-matter expertise on priority issues such as early literacy, to maximize their creation of both entertaining and educational content. Pequeños y Valiosos is a stellar example of this partnership strategy.

Stephen Massey, Senior Advisor with Too Small to Fail at The Clinton Foundation, expanded on the campaign’s objectives to inspire and inform Latino parents about early literacy and language development. He reviewed the desired outcomes to raise awareness and change attitudes and behaviors as well as what has been learned about the best way to leverage media to support child development and early learning. Massey also shared the rapid response to the coronavirus crisis: Activity kits and books were distributed to families and the campaign’s text-messaging component was expanded, reaching parents with literacy-rich activities three times per week.

Anthony Tassi, CEO of Literacy Partners, described the intentional messages embedded into the popular telenovela and how exhibiting the narratives of people in their everyday lives through telenovela is an effective way to model parental behaviors that support early language development. Tassi also discussed the work to provide resources directly to Latino parents and invited webinar participants to sign up for partner meetings to learn how to bring the available resources to families in their communities.