Houston's East End is a histrionically Latino area that is trying to find its place among Houston's growing young, urban population. A new farmers' market hopes to bridge the gap between long-time residents and their new neighbors. The East End Farmers' Market stretches along a two-block length of the Navigation Boulevard esplanade and will be open every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. One main feature of the market: fresh, affordable produce. A "veggie-mobile" run by Sown & Grown, an urban micro farm, will stock surplus produce and seedlings from the farm and sell with a "pay what you can afford" system. Rebecca Verm, owner of Sown & Grown, said this is all part of her effort to get fresh produce into a "good home" and to show residents of an area often described ...
Access to health care after the Affordable Care Act is improving among all racial/ethnic groups, especially Hispanics, but more work remains, according to a new report. According to the report, the 2014 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report, the nation's rate of uninsured people has declined. The decline was greater among Hispanics and blacks, who historically have had higher rates of unsiuninsurance rates compared with whites. For Hispanics, the rate of those uninsured dropped from 40.3% to 33.2%, and for blacks dropped from 24.6% to 15.9%. "These findings indicate that the Affordable Care Act's Health Insurance Marketplaces is making health insurance available to millions of Americans who might otherwise have been uninsured," said AHRQ Director Dr. Richard Kronick ...
In a heavily Latino part of Kansas that struggled with obesity, one coalition stepped up to find new ways to help the Latino community make healthier food choices. How’d they try to do it? They started to change the local food environment by increasing the availability and marketing of healthy foods in local stores—and it worked. EMERGENCE Awareness: Wyandotte County, Kan., which is 27.1% Hispanic and is home to Kansas City, had a growing problem of obesity, with 41% of school children listed as overweight or obese. Officials with the Latino Health for All Coalition (funded in 2008 by the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities), were increasingly aware that many residents shop at corner stores or small grocery stores, which do not always offer fresh ...
Latinos are less likely to drink alcohol at all than non-Latinos. That’s the good news. The bad news? Latinos who choose to drink are more likely to consume higher volumes of alcohol than non-Latinos, and about 8.3% of Latinos needed treatment for alcohol problems in the past year, federal statistics show. For Alcohol Awareness Month (April), let’s use #SaludTues on April 14, 2015, to tweet information, resources, and tips that can help reduce alcohol abuse among Latinos: WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Alcohol Awareness and Latinos”
DATE: Tuesday, April 14, 2015
TIME: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT)
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludToday
CO-HOSTS: National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (@NCADDnational), Institute for ...
In Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, 57 percent of adults and teens are overweight or obese; in San Benito County, the number is even more alarming at 70 percent, according to the Monterey County Health Department. As part of their response to the epidemic, the Nutritional and Fitness Collaborative of the Central Coast (NFCCC), a collection of more than 50 organizations dedicated to improving the health of their communities, set out to understand sugary drink consumption on the Central Coast. The findings of their research were released this month at a press conference at the Monterey County Health Department. A few survey highlights include: The consumption of sugary drinks was higher than water consumption.
On average, for every glass of water consumed, 1.3 glasses of ...
About 90% of U.S. teens go online daily and 32% of Latino teens go online "almost constantly," a higher rate that white teens (19%) and comparable to black teens (34%), according to a new Pew Research report. Much of this frenzy of access is facilitated by mobile devices. Overall, more than 70% of Latino, black, and white teens ages 13-17 have access to a smartphone, which has become a top driver of teen Internet, texting, and social media use. Patterns of social media use seem to be affected by socioeconomic status, as teens from lesser-income households (those earning less than $50,000) are more likely than others to say they use Facebook the most. Teens from high-higher households are somewhat more likely to visit Snapchat and Twitter more often than those from lesser-income ...
Latinos tend to live in areas with more junk food and sugary drinks, and fewer healthy options. That’s why Salud America! is presenting six new #SaludHeroes who helped bring more nutritious food and drinks to their schools, cities, and even bus stations! WATCH and VOTE for your favorite “#SaludHeroes of Healthy Food and Drinks” by April 29, 2015, and be entered in a random drawing to win a FREE T-shirt and jump rope! #SaludHeroes of healthier food are: Sweeter than Soda. Boston city leaders crafted a campaign to urge residents to choose healthy drinks over sugary beverages because “kids are sweet enough already.”
A Salad Rap. Students launched into song because they were so happy with their cool new “fresh food station,” the brainchild of parents in Fairfax ...
Cities can often find themselves challenged when it comes to designing streets that meet the needs of all road users--however complete streets policies are one way to help change that. By working to make streets friendlier for bicyclists, pedestrians, and public transit users communities become more vibrant and healthy. According to a blog post by Houston's Asakura Robinson Company, the city of Houston, which has no zoning code faces a unique challenge in designing complete streets. Nonetheless, a 2013 Complete Streets executive order issued by Mayor Anise Parker, is guiding the city in finding ways to improve street conditions for all. By seeking community input from local stakeholders who live and work in the area, planners are helping shape the Washington Avenue ...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is updating the meal patterns and nutrition guidelines for child care facilities that participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Right now, regular folks can comment on the guidelines before they undergo the final writing process. This comment period provides a unique chance to help improve nutrition for little children, including by increasing whole grains, reducing juice, eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages from child care facilities, and not allowing cookies and other grain-based desserts to count as the grain component in meals and snacks. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has drafted an email that outlines specifics they believe would make the food program healthier for children. CSPI urges parents, ...
