Photo by Adrienne J. Romero / SOC Images.
Being bilingual is a “superpower.”
And if you or a loved one hasn’t uncovered it just yet, Para KIDS! is there to help you learn it, hone in on it and—most importantly—empower it. Para KIDS! is a bilingual education company that focuses on English and Spanish bilingual programming through books, workshops and more to help students learn and have fun while doing it.
The company is Latina-led by Daniela Palacios, a daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants who was raised in Newark, New Jersey. Palacios, who started the company at 18 years old and is now 22, told Slice of Culture that Para KIDS! is meant to be a comforting, yet empowering representation for multicultural students and also to show them that they can “make so much impact.”
“That’s why I also am really trying to give back to my community—the Newark community—by going into different Newark public schools or charter schools and letting students know that I grew up in this neighborhood. I’m just like them and I want them to be better than me,” Palacios said.
“I want them to make even more [of a] social impact in the spaces that they’re passionate about and that they care about… I also really care about diversity in entrepreneurship [and] social impact work. We need all hands on deck and we need everyone’s experiences. And the only way that we can do that is if people from all types of backgrounds are in those rooms and have their voices heard.
“So with Para KIDS!, we always just care about giving back to the community and empowering students in all aspects. We really do believe that through bilingual education that transfers out of the classroom and that goes with them throughout the rest of their lives.”
A Vision That Started At Home
Palacios moved to Newark when she was eight years old. She took ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for about two years and that’s how she was able to learn English, which she emphasized she’s always been “very grateful” for.
Then 10 years later came her younger brother, Xavier.
Palacios noticed her seven-year-old brother struggling to communicate in Spanish, which became discouraging when he’d try to speak with their parents and grandparents.
She searched for bilingual books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other physical bookstores, but always ended up emptyhanded. So Palacios thought: “Why don’t I write a story for him?”
“I felt like bilingual education, by that point in time, should be something that was much more accessible. So I decided why not use my bilingual ability, speaking English and Spanish, knowing how to write and read in both to write a story for him?” Palacios explained.
“Once it actually helped him become a confident bilingual speaker, I realized that there was so much potential to really give more access to all students, like my brother, that wanted to learn Spanish, wanted to learn English and just really wanted to be bilingual or multilingual.”
A 2024 dataset showed that New Jersey had 843,600 English Language Learners (ELL) and children of immigrants. As of the 2023-2024 school year, 10,250 English language learners were enrolled in the Newark Public Schools district; the district allocated $4.2 million in the school year’s budget to support expansive bilingual services, but even so, it forced “overenrollment.”
With Para KIDS!—a name that in itself is bilingual; translating from Spanish to English: “For Kids!”— their books and programming aim to become another tool for language learners and encourage them to keep practicing.
Inspiring The Future Generation
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Palacios wrote and published “Sara’s New Country And New Friend/El Nuevo País y la Nueva Amiga de Sara.” She partnered with a local illustrator, Patricia Patalinjug, who helped bring the book to life. After pitching the book in different competitions, she used the seed money to pay for the illustrations. Once those were completed, Palacios self-published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publisher.
While Palacios’ determination was molded by Rutgers-Newark Business School’s entrepreneurship academy for high schoolers and her current political science major at Columbia University, her passion has always been rooted in serving and encouraging the youth.
Palacios has created two Para KIDS! books with a third one on the way.
In the first book, “Sara’s New Country And New Friend/El Nuevo País y la Nueva Amiga de Sara,” readers meet Sara, an Ecuadorian immigrant, one of the biggest Hispanic demographics in Newark, and Riley, a Mexican-American.
“[Riley] wants to learn Spanish because she wants to stay in touch with her culture and that also is very similar to a lot of first-generation immigrant students that were born in this country,” Palacios said.
In the second book, “Sara’s Friendship Passport/El Pasaporte de Amistad de Sara,” Ricardo, a Brazilian-American, is introduced, who represents the large Brazilian community in Newark.
“We wanted to make sure that all students felt represented. We learn more about Ecuador, we learn more about Mexico and we also learn more about Brazil… We’re really taking students into this multicultural experience where they can see themselves in the characters or their peers,” Palacios added.
“… It teaches students to just always be open to making friends with people that are different from them and just being curious and being kind.”
Today, she has worked with the Newark Public Schools District and non-profit organizations with workshops, programming and selling books wholesale.
If you’re in the education system, you can contact them through their social media to find a way Para KIDS! can work with your school. For updates on the third book, you can join their newsletter, located at the bottom of their website.
As for Xavier, he’s now 12 years old and is bilingual.
“I want to thank every single student, educator [and] parent that I have ever connected with, and that has either read one of our bilingual books, experienced one of our workshops… At the end of the day, we are community focused and so our community is what keeps us going… We’re excited to continue growing the community and making so much more impact.”
