About the Author

Author Picture

Amanda Merck

Merck completed her MPH with a concentration in Physical Activity and Health. She curates content for Salud America! (@SaludAmerica), a Latino childhood obesity prevention project based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. She focuses on the latest research, resources, and stories related to policy, systems, and environmental changes to enhance equitable access to safe places for kids and families to walk, bike, and play.

Connect with Amanda:
Twitter Link

Articles by Amanda Merck

What the New Coronavirus Law Means for Paid Sick Leave, Family Leave


Paid leave provisions in coronavirus relief bill.

People need to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Covid-19. However, for the 27% of the U.S. private workforce with no paid sick leave, staying home isn’t an option, particularly for the full prescribed 14-day quarantine. That’s why a form of paid sick leave and family/childcare leave are part of a new $100 billion relief law, Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which also includes nutrition aid, unemployment health insurance, and free COVID-19 testing. Trump signed the new law on March 18, 2020. It goes into effect April 2, 2020. But the new law could leave out up to 19 million workers, roughly 12% of the workforce, including many low-income Latinos, women, and other vulnerable populations, experts say. Moreover, economists estimate that three ...

Read More

9 Big Actions for Safe Routes to Healthy Food


bus at grocery store

Everyone deserves a safe and reliable way to get to healthy food—whether a supermarket, corner store, food bank, farmers market, or community garden. Unfortunately, many Latinos and people in low-income communities, rural communities, and communities of color are disproportionately burdened by long and unreliable commutes, as well as unsafe routes to nutritious food. That’s why the Safe Routes to Healthy Food Task Force worked for two years to refine the concept of safe routes to healthy food. Now they’ve released a new report with policy implications, opportunities, and recommendations. “This collaboration demonstrated that improving access to healthy foods for people without cars can be improved by a variety of sectors, including: transportation, healthy food access, ...

Read More

Comment Now: Stop the Return of Redlining & Speak Up for Transit!


Latino family home

Proposed changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) could bring back redlining, relax affordable housing definitions, and reduce the number of bank loans, investments, and services in low- and moderate-income communities and those of color, experts say. The CRA was developed in 1977 to curb redlining—discriminatory lending—and push banks to better serve communities. Now, federal agencies are proposing changes to modernize the complex law. But housing advocate Miriam Axel-Lute and others worry it weakens the CRA and is a “clear invitation to return to redlining.” “In addition, some investments in infrastructure and sports stadiums in low- and moderate-income communities would now qualify for CRA credit without any requirement that they primarily benefit low- and ...

Read More

Somos Neighbors: Using Data Visualization to Connect People, Close the Life Expectancy Gap in San Antonio


Tonika Johnson, center, with “map twins” Carmen Arnold-Stratton, right, and Bridghid O’Shaughnessy, left. (WTTW News)

Where we live plays a big role in how long we live. That’s why racial and economic segregation are so harmful. Unequitable distribution of investment and services results in poor social and health outcomes for some. Tonika Johnson saw this in real time as a teen when she commuted from the less affluent South Side Chicago neighborhood where she lived to the more affluent North Side neighborhood where she attended school. “It’s like there was an invisible line dividing the city,” she said. Johnson started the “Folded Map” project to explore neighborhood differences and discuss solutions. In San Antonio, public health group CI:NOW were intrigued by Johnson’s “Folded Map.” How could they use it as model to create their own data tool to help residents, ...

Read More

#SaludTues Tweetchat 3/10: Routine Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)



Our bodies are wired for survival—thanks to our biological stress response system. However, without buffering protections, adversity in childhood can lead to a toxic stress response—changes in brain structure and function, how genes are read, functioning of the immune and inflammatory systems, and growth and development. This toxic stress response is associated with increased risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety, suicide, and numerous other negative health and social outcomes. By screening children and families, providers can assess their risk of toxic stress and provide appropriate education, treatment, and services. After all, screening is one of the most basic tools of modern public health and preventive ...

Read More

4 Reasons We Have Traffic Safety All Wrong



Traffic fatality rates—in decline for 50 years—are rising again. Why? Not enough effort to get vehicles off the road, traffic safety experts say. Reducing vehicle travel can boost safety. It has many social, environmental, and health benefits, too, especially for Latinos who face many transportation barriers. Yet historical transportation planning had misplaced focus in four keys area: vehicle throughput to sprawling areas, vehicle travel safety over transportation system safety, vehicle safety over roadway safety, and reducing high-risk driving over all driving. Here is a breakdown of each issue, and why we desperately need reform. 1. Historical Focus on Vehicle Throughput to Sprawling Areas What is sprawl? Reid Ewing, a nationally recognized transportation-planning ...

Read More

14 States Are Strengthening ‘Head Start’ for At-Risk Children, Families


Head Start helps at risk children and families

Communities are increasingly concerned about the rise of poverty, homelessness, trauma, and opioids among children and families. However, few states address these issues by investing money in Head Start programs, which are proven to strengthen families, promote school readiness, and improve child health. The good news is that lawmakers in 14 states are investing over $400 million each budget cycle for local Head Start and Early Head Start programs, according to a new analysis by the National Head Start Association and Voices for Healthy Kids. These investments will help serve more kids─but millions are still left out. Crisis of At-Risk Children and Families Many children and families face difficult situations: persistent childhood poverty the unrelenting opioid ...

Read More

6 Ways to Correct Bike Share’s Social Equity Problem


Adaptive bike share

For years, bike share programs have shown sharp divisions along race and class lines. Bike share stations are often located in whiter, wealthier neighborhoods. Whiter, wealthier individuals are far more likely users than those of color. That’s why cities are working to improve equity of bike share programs. In fact, 60% of bike share systems had specific programs to address equity, according to the National Scan of Bike Share Equity Programs from the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC). But these systems rarely set or tracked outcomes on equity. Below are six ways to correct bike share’s social equity problem, based on examples from the TREC report to help bike share systems move toward equity and from Shared-Use Mobility Center’s list of efforts to ...

Read More