By Jackie Edwards
Contributing Writer Unemployment insurance and government benefits are available to qualifying Latinos who lawfully reside in this country, federal policy states. Many Latino homes could benefit from this aid. In fact, more than 5% of adult Latino workers and 15% of teen Latino workers are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Latino immigrants are much less likely than their white counterparts to receive government benefits.
"Unemployment insurance benefits can provide crucial economic stability during unexpected job loss, provide for basic needs during a job search, and keep families out of poverty," according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP).
Why Latinos Should Care about Federal Aid
A growing share of the U.S. ...
Lack of affordable housing has strong implications for many Latinos and greatly impacts their quality of life. Many Latinos live in racially segregated, low-income, high-poverty areas with limited access to fresh, healthy foods, quality healthcare, and physical activity spaces. Also, many areas restrict Latinos access to opportunities impacting their choice of school or their children and limits their chance to obtain higher paying jobs. For those living in rural areas, the access to affordable housing is often even more limited. According to the non-profit group, Smart Growth America, the cost of living in rural areas is generally lower than in metro areas, yet many residents of rural cities and towns nevertheless struggle to afford the homes and apartments available in those ...
On a early May morning in San Francisco, Calif. (15.1% Latino), people gathered on a dangerous street to stand arm to arm as a buffer between moving cars and the bike lane. The current bike lane is located between street parking and moving traffic. This is known as a door zone lane because people continuously fling open their car doors in this space and drive into and out of this space to park their cars. As we all know, paint does little to stop a person from driving their vehicle over or parking in the "protected" space. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's (SFMTA) saw the bike lanes fill up with auto traffic and double parking and proposed protected bike lanes for an upcoming project on the neighboring one-way street, according to Streets Blog San Francisco. ...
Although the recent menu labeling bill was pushed back for implementation until 2018 across restaurants, recent research reveals that removing and labeling unhealthy ingredients like trans fats can make a healthy difference for consumers. A study from JAMA Cardiology studied urban counties in New York State that restricted the use of trans fats in public eateries like restaurants, bakeries, cafeterias, park concessions and senior meal programs. The study concluded, after three years that there were there fewer hospital admissions for cardiovascular events in counties with a ban on trans fats. Since July 2003, the FDA approved labeling trans fats for consumers awareness on the dangerous ingredient that is often found in fast foods, baked goods, chips and can lead to higher ...
Swimming may be the perfect physical activity to help Latino kids achieve good health. But city governments often make the "painful choice to shut their pools to save the budget," according to a New York Times story a few years ago. Pool closures can especially hurt low-income and Latino and racial/ethnic communities where the local pool may be the only luxury. What can community residents do to save pools? We at Salud America! are happy to spotlight two communities who stepped up in unique ways when their local pools faced being cemented in!
Hannah Lieder: Saving a Public Pool in the Heart of Minneapolis Phillips Pool had been open for 22 years in the heart of urban Minneapolis, Minn., when it shut down for renovations in 2009. Renovation plans turned into ...
Kaiser Permanente wants to empower parents to talk to their kids about mental health. Finding the right ways to talk to your children about mental health is important because as many as 13% of children ages 8 to 15 experience a severe mental disorder at some point while growing up. In fact, many parents are unaware of the warning signs in kids or teens who are dealing with mental health issues. A few signs to look for include substance abuse, social isolation, behavior changes and more. Parents wanting to learn more about mental health like how to assess their child's mental health, and or how to talk to their child in a non-judgmental way about mental health can click here for more information on mental health. These resources are also in Spanish for Latino parents to talk ...
Attaining an education is one of the key social determinants of health. For many Latinos, getting an education beyond high school prevents them from obtaining a higher quality of life. While more and more Latinos are enrolling in two- and four-year universities, the gap in achievement is still vast between them and their white peers. Excelencia in Education, a non-profit organization founded to accelerate higher education access for Latino students, was recently announced as the recipient of a $1.5 million in grants from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation and Lumina Foundation to “expand strategies that accelerate Latino student success in higher education.” “This important collaboration highlights Lumina’s continued commitment to accelerate Latino student ...
A child needs more than nutritious food and physical activity to be healthy. They need healthy minds, too. But 1 in 5 children today suffer a serious mental illness. Depressive symptoms among Latino youth are especially high, putting them at risk of dropping out of school, using drugs, and suicide. For Mental Health Awareness Month in May, let’s use #SaludTues on May 9, 2017, to share tips and strategies to promote healthy minds and environments for Latino and all kids across the U.S. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: "Latino Kids and Healthy Minds"
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, May 9, 2017
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludToday
CO-HOSTS: Cheryl Aguilar (@cheryl_aguilar); Jesus Rodriguez, MD of Kaiser Permanente ...
How can a little pinwheel fan help kids with emotional balance and mental clarity? Coming together to support mental health awareness month, Sixpence Program and the Lied Scottsbluff Public Library are supporting children's mental health with toys like foam building blocks, mental health books, and pinwheels. These toys can help provide continued learning for kids with mental health issues, helping them in calm-down techniques, like the pinwheels which help kids learn a deep breathing technique. Kids can "smell" the flower when they put the pinwheel close to their face, and then blow out stress or exhale onto the pinwheel and see the pinwheel move into action. “As adults, we can teach children how to respond when they are upset,” Tiffany Fuller, the Sixpence Program ...
