A webinar was held on September 30 that revealed the equity data for the 100 largest cities in the United States. Many city leaders are facing new economic revivals; however this has not translated into better jobs, living wages, and ownership opportunities for Latinos and other minorities. City leaders face an urgent need to create policies and strategies to combat the deepening inequity problems. The webinar was co-sponsored by PolicyLink and the University of Southern California (USC) Program for Environmental & Regional Equity. Understanding the state of equity in cities is key to eliminating racial and ethnic disparities. The National Equity Atlas has been expanded to include data broken up by race, nationality, and income for the 100 largest cities in America. This tool ...
As of the 2011 census, there are over 25 million people in the United States had limited English proficiency. This includes people born outside and inside the United States. Spanish is still the most spoken language in the U.S. after English. There is also an increase in other non-English languages and the U.S. is seeing a great movement towards diversification. This population shift has greatly impacted health equity and health literacy. There is literally a lack of ability to effectively communicate health care ideas and strategies to many of the patients who need the information the most. One strategy formed to address this issue has been translating health materials used by healthcare providers. While this seems on the surface a simple solution, the issue is not as ...
Need help finding how to have healthier foods in your school or public facility? Check out the Center for Disease Control's Smart Food Choices toolkit here, and also map out where current procurement policies are taking place ...
San Diego (33.2% Latino) is sprinkling the city in gardens. Healthy foods from the local corporate gardens are just outside the door. Urban Plantations, an organic gardening company offers its landscaping services to corporate, residential and assisted-living clients. Bringing organic fresh produce to locals, the company is all about making edible landscapes a norm in the city. However, more needs to be done in encouraging people to want to use produce of edible foods within their companies cafeterias, mentioned Karen Contreras, the founder and president of the company. Many companies and campus clients utilize the food in their cafeterias, but not to the majority that would be harvested on a farm, Contreras explained in a recent article. Contreras leads clients to utilize the ...
Meg Reyes, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the early age of 33. “I was only required to have a lumpectomy,” she says, “but because of the tumor size my doctors were very aggressive in my treatment and removed 16 lymph nodes,” With the support of her family and co-workers Megan survived breast cancer. 10+ years after, she’s an unofficial counselor for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, she has lost 150 pounds, has lived in Germany and England and has hosted a Japanese exchange student. [Survivorship means]“living life even after something challenging happened in your life experience. It doesn’t have to be cancer, it can be anything that you survived and how you deal with those adverse action,” Reyes said. Read Meg’s full story on Redes en ...
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, in Chicago, IL, listened to the concerns of local parents and created the Campaign to Renovate Kelly Park to address inequities in park access, amenities and programming in Chicago. Parks have been an issue of social and civil rights in Chicago for decades. In 1982, the U.S. Justice Department sued the Chicago Park District for spending more money on parks in white neighborhoods than in black and Latino neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the problem still lingers and is associated with increased crime, physical inactivity, and obesity. According to Angela Caputo, more than half of the $500 million spent on Park District improvements since 2011 went to just 10 of the city’s 77 neighborhoods— seven of which are increasingly white and affluent. ...
Latino adults are more likely to have diabetes than non-latino individuals. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) knows that learning how to create a well-balanced meal may help many Latino families understand how to eat healthy. A bilingual, interactive tool called "Create your plate", has been created by ADA that allows Latinos to create healthy meals by offering portion size recommendations as well as tips on popular common healthy Latin foods. Healthy foods are an important step in preventing diabetes and tools like these may help empower individuals to make nutritious eating choices. To access the "Create your plate" tool, check out the English and Spanish versions ...
Joseph Nickol wants to know, "What is your neighborhood known for?" He advises readers to analyze their neighborhoods and figure out what needs a little fix up for green space for kids, crumbling streets for safe walking routes or new events to revitalize the community. Believing that huge investments can happen in as little as a weekend, Kevin Wright, a senior associate at a landscape and urban design firm, and Joe Nickol, ask people to prove them right by organizing events in underutilized areas of their neighborhoods. Not only are Wright and Nicol asking people to take action, they want to help people take action. How? By sharing their web-based guide to help activate neighborhoods. Guiding neighbors to connect and move communities to make healthy changes together the ...
Latino kids consume more sugary drinks than average, part of the reason they're more likely to be overweight/obese than their peers. What can be done? You're invited to join a webinar at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Sept. 30, to learn about new local and national efforts to improve Latino kids' access to healthy drinks. The webinar, sponsored by the national Council of La Raza (NCLR) and including Salud America!, is bringing together a panel of experts to highlight successful efforts from across the country to improve beverage choices and healthy environments in schools and other community settings: Rosalie P. Aguilar, MS, Project Coordinator, Salud America!, Institute for Health Promotion Research UT Health Science Center at San Antonio (the team behind SaludToday)
David Thomsen, ...
