Having been in the industry for over 40 years, Jim Morris is no newcomer to journalism. He’s worked at several news organizations across Texas and spent two decades at the Center for Public Integrity, a news nonprofit in Washington, D.C. In August 2021, he started Public Health Watch, a nonprofit investigative news organization that seeks to hold systems accountable and expose threats to the safety and wellbeing of the country. As the Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of a virtual news organization, Morris faces some challenges. But in the end, it’s worth it to be able to help advocate for workers’ health and expose people to the human stories in public and environmental health. “I'm attracted to those kinds of stories. You can almost always tell a really ...
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Alliance for a Healthier Generation is sharing a series of stories about Latino health champions. These champions—Bianca De León, Alejandro Diasgranados, Mario Reyna, and Pia Escudero—have different backgrounds and interests. But they share a passion for creating health equity and a more just, equitable, inclusive, and healthy future for children and families. Read their stories!
Bianca De León: Community-Building to Connect Kids to Positive Experiences
Bianca De León grew up speaking both English and Spanish with her single mother in their community along the U.S.-Mexico border. She had a loving network of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents. Now, as a mother, she continues to forge these ...
In 1993, Ellen Ochoa became the first Latina person in space. She logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit across four space missions, studying the Earth's ozone layer. She would later become the NASA Johnson Space Center’s first Latina director and only its second female director. "At the time, it was really a personal thing," Ochoa told TODAY. "It was something I was very excited to participate in, and I loved working with the team and with my crew and doing work that was important to understanding changes in the atmosphere." "I realized the mission had repercussions well beyond that. I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of student groups, I was featured in children's books, textbooks – I'm just really grateful there was this whole extra dimension to that flight beyond the ...
Workforce inequities are nothing new for people of color, specifically Latinos. Long before COVID-19, many Latinos had unstable jobs with little-to-no benefits and lower wages than their white non-Latino coworkers. The pandemic made things worse. But one thing saved many Latino jobs—a labor union contract, according to a comparison of unionized and non-unionized Latino workers by UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative. Labor unions are organizations of workers that come together to negotiate better working conditions or other benefits as a collective bargaining. “Our analysis suggests that unionization—even within the same industry and occupation—preserved employment and wages for workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for variations in ...
Many Latino youth face declining mental health amid the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, a racial/ethnic social justice movement, and economic hardships. Sadly, many aren’t getting the help they need, either. About 65% of Latino college students have mental health issues that go untreated, as they are less likely than their white peers to engage with campus mental health services, according to a new study from researchers at University of California, Riverside. “This means counselors can identify a culturally sensitive, value-driven approach to encouraging greater participation in campus mental health services, instead of focusing only on students’ ethnicity in their outreach efforts” said study senior author Kalina Michalska. “Given the increasing diversity among U.S. ...
Dr. Ángela Gutiérrez has always been passionate about health disparities research. “I had previously worked on health disparities research focusing on diabetes, fibromyalgia among Latinx communities, and I've done a lot of community-based research,” Gutiérrez said. So when the opportunity arose to apply to Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training at UT Health San Antonio, Gutiérrez was thrilled to learn more. “It was through Éxito! that I realized the prevalence and importance of focusing on cancer disparities as well, not just focusing on diabetes and fibromyalgia,” Gutiérrez said. Participating in Éxito! helped Gutiérrez apply and get accepted to a PhD program in Community Health Sciences at the Fielding School of Public Health of the University of ...
Early education can make a huge impact on the lives of children — especially its effects on economic opportunities, college prep, and finding a good-paying job. Yet it is far too common for Latinos and other disadvantaged students to face barriers for quality K-12 education. That’s why The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit policy organization, recently published five policy recommendations that can make a huge difference in the education of Latino students. “Latino students in particular constitute a significant and growing portion of the U.S. student population yet are often overlooked in education literature because they are not the lowest performing demographic,” the report states. “We considered factors that may’ve influenced student performance, including both ...
For years, Latino farmworkers suffered at the hands of corrupt businesses who underpaid laborers and took advantage of such workers. In response to these intolerant and harmful practices, one Latino stood up for the rights of his community — Cesar Chavez. He created organizations and led strikes focused on La Causa, “a movement to organize Mexican American farm workers.” Chavez’s action led to many protections for Latino workers throughout the U.S. For Chavez, it was his desire to help fellow Latinos that spurred his action. “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community,” he said. “Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” For ...
Dolores Huerta taught us sí se puede—yes we can. This was Huerta's rallying cry as she inspired Latino farm workers to demand fair wages and better working conditions in the 1970s. In the decades after she co-founded the United Farm Worker's Union with César E. Chávez and made many gains for workers, she has continued to serve as a powerful voice to develop leaders and advocate for the Latino working poor, women, and children. Huerta, now 94, "travels across the country engaging in campaigns and influencing legislation that supports equality" and "speaks to students and organizations about issues of social justice and public policy," according to the Dolores Huerta Foundation. "A lot of people don’t realize that they actually can make a difference. That’s what we ...
