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Strategy: Latino Community Involvement Can Spur Environmental Justice


community activism in park green space for environmental justice

This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary Neighborhood development initiatives in Latino communities that rely upon “bottom-up” activism, a wide public-private partnership network, and “cultural brokers” have been effective at driving and maintaining long-term community change, especially in the context of environmental justice in Latino communities. Green Space Access Is an Environmental Justice Issue Over the past two decades, uneven access to green space has become an important environmental justice issue as awareness of its contribution to public health has become more widely recognized [33, 52]. In general, racial/ethnic minorities and low-income people have less access to ...

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Strategy: Green Space Projects Can Boost Latino Health


latino father son in a green space park

This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary Green space initiatives that take community concerns, needs, and desires into consideration may be most effective at improving Latino physical and mental well-being. Green spaces support public health in many ways—they filter air, remove pollution, attenuate noise, cool temperatures, replenish ground water, mitigate stormwater, and can provide food [53, 54]. Beyond these benefits, however, are the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of green space, as discussed below. Green Spaces Benefit Latino Physical Health Policies and programs that specifically work to improve these conditions in Latino communities will go a long way to increasing the ...

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Strategy: Improve Public Transit to Improve Latino Quality of Life


Latina woman riding bus public transit transportation

This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary Income-based fare reductions, improved scheduling, and transit routing improvements to link places of residence with places of employment are emerging ways to improve quality of life for Latinos living in the U.S. To improve transit connectivity and safe transportation options in Latino communities, smart advocacy decisions will have to be made. Transit routing improvements will have to address coverage gaps in the suburbs, disconnects between population centers and job nodes, and alignment of routes between riders and destinations [42]. Transit scheduling improvements must be made to meet the working hour needs and reliability required for regular ...

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Strategy: How Transit-Oriented Development Benefit Latinos


Transit-oriented development and housing with a greenway for Latino families

This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary To improve access to affordable housing near public transport, Latinos would benefit from transport-oriented development projects in their neighborhoods that increase the stock of affordable housing centered around the transport hub. These projects should emphasize strong preemptive community involvement to limit displacement and gentrification that has frequently plagued these projects, and to maintain cultural authenticity in Latino neighborhoods that have undergone revitalization. What Is Transit-Oriented Development? Transit-oriented development is a model for neighborhood revitalization that can be defined as ‘walkable, dense, compact, mixed-use ...

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Strategy: How to Increase Affordable Housing in Latino Communities


Latino Hispanic family in new affordable housing

This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary Two forms of intervention could improve the current state of housing instability in Latino communities. First, devoting more resources toward keeping renting families in their homes, and second, increasing the number of affordable housing initiatives with the ultimate goal of increasing the stock of affordable housing in Latino communities. Keep Renters in Their Homes Toward the first goal, development of a program that could provide aid to renters who experience drastic, but temporary, loss of income due to job loss, medical emergency, or other unexpected financial burden could prevent many forced displacements. In 2009, Milwaukee tenants facing ...

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Research: Latino Communities Lack Accessible Green Space



This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary Latino communities lack green spaces that are safe, accessible, functional, and culturally relevant. What Are Green Spaces? Within urban, suburban, and rural communities, green space can be natural or maintained outdoor public space, such as parks, playgrounds, sporting fields, school yards, day care and early care yards, greenways/trails, tree-lined sidewalks, community gardens, nature conservation areas, forests, as well as less conventional urban “green alleyways,” “pocket parks,” and green walls or roofs [52]. Green Space Inequities Exist Unfortunately, access to and quality of green space is not equitably distributed. Compared with ...

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Research: Latinos Face Big Public Transportation Challenges



This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary U.S. Latinos report specific transportation challenges that arise due to the discrepancy between where Latinos live versus where they work. These challenges include transit fare affordability, reliability, and coverage. Latinos Use Public Transit Frequently According to the Pew Research Center, Americans who are lower-income, non-White, immigrants, or under 50 are most likely to use public transportation on a regular basis [39]. Among urban residents, 27% of Latinos use public transit daily or weekly, compared to 14% of non-Latino Whites, and foreign-born urban residents are 20% more likely to regularly use public transportation than native-born urban ...

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Research: Latino Rural Migration Led to Housing, Transportation Inequities


dilapidated housing rural affordable

This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary A pattern of Latino migration to small town and rural areas in the Southeast and Midwest instead of to traditional urban centers has led to the formation of isolated, segregated rural Latino communities with unique housing and transportation needs. The Latino Population Shift: From Urban to Rural Real estate and transportation trends have shown two prominent residential shifts among Latinos. First of all, in urban areas, Latinos are living farther from transport hubs and amenities, where housing is more affordable. Secondly, a large number of Latinos are migrating into new areas where jobs are available and rents are more affordable, primarily to ...

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Research: Latino Families Burdened by Housing Costs, Eviction



This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary An increasing number of Latinos are burdened by high housing costs and can even face possible eviction, displacing them from urban centers near public transport to the fringes of urban areas, where transport, services, and employment are more difficult to access. Housing Affects Health Currently at 58.6 million, Latinos account for more U.S. population growth than any other demographic [1]. Public policy has led to decades of disinvestment in low-income communities and communities of color in the United States, which has led to worsened physical and mental health in these communities [16, 17]. Health equity refers to the ability of all individuals to ...

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