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March 31, 2022

Dear John,

More than two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, families are still struggling with challenges including mental-health concerns, job loss, and food and housing insecurity, with many Dual Language Learner (DLL) and immigrant families particularly at risk.

While the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Child Home Visiting (MIECHV) program can offer critical integration-related supports, DLL and immigrant families are known to be underserved.

With MIECHV reauthorization due this fall, Congress has an opportunity to increase funding levels that have been stagnant since 2013 and expand a program that reaches just 3 to 5 percent of eligible families. And, as Maki Park and Jazmin Flores Peña suggest in a new commentary, states should also be encouraged to use MIECHV funds more flexibly and with a focus on equity, addressing existing gaps in services for immigrant and DLL families.

"The pandemic has had harmful impacts on all families, with disproportionate effects suffered by immigrant families and other communities of color," they write. "The expansion of programs such as MIECHV could support families and help them thrive at a time when their young children stand to benefit most from high-quality services."

You can read the full commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/dual-language-learner-families-home-visiting-programs.

With thanks for your interest in our work,

Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs,
Migration Policy Institute

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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels. For more on MPI, please visit www.migrationpolicy.org.
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