Close to 40% of Americans struggle to meet rising costs of housing, and Latinos face hardship in affording at least one basic need. To tackle a "housing crisis" in Boston (19.4% Latino), the city’s Mayor, Marty Walsh, announced $26 million in funding for affordable housing units, MassLive reports. Their plan? To convert previously used apartment buildings into income-restricted units available for low-income families. "We have no problem building high end housing in Boston. It is pretty easy and we see it every day," Walsh said in a press conference earlier this week. "The question is how can we make sure we can have it affordable and built in our city and targeted correctly."
Boston's New Affordable Housing Plans
Boston's ongoing growth, especially among Latinos, is ...
Paid leave reduces the use of public services, boosts employee productivity, and can help families better succeed—yet three in four Latinos are unable to take such time. Despite data that shows its benefits, there is no federal requirement to provide paid family leave. The 1993 federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), legislation most businesses follow, does not cover all workers and leave offers are unpaid. Lack of paid leave and other economic support contributes to health and economic disparities among Latinas, Latinos, and low-income families. Still, paid leave is gaining popular support, including a proposal for universal paid family leave. “If the [corporate officers and directors] gets paid leave, then the factory floor worker should also get paid leave,” ...
Thanks to her mother’s hard work, independence, and resilience, Sandra Garcia Camacho is poised to make an impact for Latino health. Garcia Camacho grew up in Yauco "The City of Coffee" in Puerto Rico. She completed her bachelor’s degree in natural sciences with a concentration in biomedicine at the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce. She then pursued her master’s degree in public health with an emphasis in biostatistics at the Medical Sciences Campus in Puerto Rico. She wants to conduct research in chronic disease, and looks forward to addressing research gaps in the study of polycystic kidney disease. To further her experience and education, Garcia Camacho applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. The Éxito! program, led by Dr. ...
California media portray immigrants with derogatory descriptions with regularity, while immigrant voices and healthcare are rarely covered, according to a new report by Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG). The BMSG report examined over 2,500 immigration articles in 2017-2018 in California: Monterey (58.8% Latino), Sacramento (23.3% Latino), Kern (53.4% Latino), and San Diego (39.1% Latino). Researchers found neutral descriptors of immigrants—“undocumented” or “unauthorized”—in most media coverage. But they also found potentially dehumanizing terms—“illegal immigrants,” “illegal aliens,” or “illegals”—in nearly every news outlet, and 13% of all articles examined. No coverage focused on the health and well-being of immigrants, either. "The hostile ...
In 2017, the CDC revealed that drug overdose fatalities are continually rising in rural communities, even surpassing rates in urban areas. Additionally, the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the American Farm Bureau Federations (AFBF) discovered that the opioid epidemic has directly impacted as many as 74% of farmers. Latinos make up roughly 23% of the agriculture industry, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, and opioid use is on the rise in this demographic. “Opioids have been too easy to come by and too easy to become addicted to,” AFBF president Zippy Duvall said in a statement. “And because opioid addiction is a disease, it’s up to all of us to help people who suffer from it and help them find the treatment they need.”
What Are Opioids?
These drugs voyage through ...
Like the beautiful photo of Erika Bonilla’s tia and father that serve as a reminder of her El Salvadorean roots, Bonilla is on a mission to see Latino families thrive. Bonilla holds bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a master’s of public health degree from California State University, Long Beach. Bonilla is a Research Associate at the CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training. Her research focus includes: maternal and child health, adolescent health, women’s health, cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS prevention, childhood obesity prevention, community-based participatory research, education, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students of multiple disciplines in health science and human services majors. Having already gained valuable ...
Exposure to a widely used substance in weed killers is connected to a 41% increase in the likelihood of developing cancer, according to a new study. Researchers found people who regularly interacted with high levels of the chemical, glyphosate, had a higher chance of contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), reported in findings published in Mutation Research. This is important for Latinos and those in poverty, who tend to disproportionately live in regions where glyphosate is sprayed in California (39% Latino). Rachel Shaffer, a study author and a University of Washington doctoral student, told UW News the new study gives a current and in-depth examination of links between NHL and glyphosate. “These findings are aligned with a prior assessment from the International Agency ...
Congratulations to Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! and the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, on being selected for the Health Lifetime Achievement Award from a Special Interest Group of the Society of Behavioral Medicine! This honor recognizes substantial scholarly contributions to health research in behavioral medicine over a career. Ramirez will be formally recognized March 8, 2019, during a gathering of the Special Interest Group at the 40th Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions of the Society of Behavioral Medicine in Washington, D.C. “I’m very thankful for this award from such a prestigious group as the Society of Behavioral Medicine, which is a recognition of our ongoing work to promote health improvement across the ...
Are you getting enough sleep? The United States is facing a sleep crisis. Lack of sleep can contribute to heart attacks, diabetes, and other serious health issues that affect Latinos more, says the CDC. It can also affect mood and memory. Let’s use #SaludTues on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, to tweet about the sleep crisis in the United States, the importance of sleep for disease prevention, and ways to improve sleep for Latino and all people. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “The Sleep Crisis & Latino Health”
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, March 5, 2019
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: Diverse Elders (@DiverseElders), The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (@AASMorg),Hamilton Community Health Network ...
