TAMPA, Fla. — This week marked three years since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic. For some Hispanic families, the start of the pandemic marked a lack of access to education.

What You Need To Know

  • Solmart Media started a podcast known as ‘Por Nuestros Nino’s’ in 2020

  • Educators like Ruth Villegas took part, helping Spanish-speaking families navigate through the pandemic as students learned from home

  • Three years later and the podcast is continuing to prosper and educate families about more than just school subjects but life lessons as well

For Ruth Villegas, the year 2020 meant early mornings in the kitchen, preparing a cup of coffee, as she navigated the pandemic as an educator.

“I think it was like a shock for ourselves as much as for the families, so our goal was to try and ease their mind as much as possible," she said.

Then it was straight to the dining room table to teach through zoom. For Villegas, she wasn’t just teaching her students in her dual-language class, but she was part of a new podcast known as ‘Por Nuestros Ninos’ or for our children in English.

Villegas describes the courses and what she was involved with in the podcast. “We tried to give them resources not only that they can navigate online but that they can do with their students at home.”

The podcast stemmed from the pandemic and families not understanding how to help their children due to the language barrier. Airing one episode every week led to having over 70 episodes on all podcast platforms.

Mercedes Soler is the founder of Solmart media a radio station company started in Sarasota. Through her reach in radio, she wanted to help her Spanish-speaking families that were struggling.

“This is a love passion, passion project for us, we do it to help our community," she said.

Now 3-years later and the podcast has grown from teaching educational subjects to now life lessons. Soler says if there’s one thing, she hopes people take from the podcast is, “Most important message for me is bilingualism is essential.”

For Villegas, her passion for teaching dual-language allowed her to not only help families navigate the language barrier but help them be more involved in their child’s education.

 “It’s just one little way of helping theses parents, there’s just a million ways that we can help them,” she said.

She says as a Spanish-speaker herself, she hopes families will use the podcast as a resource for their children and grandchildren.