Open Enrollment for the Health Care Marketplace began on November 1. To date, more than 20 million Americans have obtained health care coverage since the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Latinos and other racial and ethnic minorities have achieved some of the largest gains during this time. New citizens, those from other countries who have obtained citizenship in the U.S., have also “gained the security provided by having high quality health insurance,” the Administration for Children & Families (ACF) announced. In order to reduce health disparities, it is critical to address inequities in programs, practices, and policies. Join our site, connect with others, and get involved. According to the ACF, healthy refugees and immigrants are more likely to ...
San Antonio’s Eastside Promise Neighborhood (EPN) is a community of about 18,000 residents (67.5% Latino) who face many health disparities driven by socioeconomic inequities in income, education and access to health care. Noemi Villarreal and others at EPN sought ways to improve health care and health equity in the area. To do that, they looked for ways to promote the idea of the “medical home,” in which the patient/family is the center of partnerships with primary care providers, specialists, educational resources, and the entire community. They formed a group of dedicated "Community Connectors" to travel the neighborhood and do whatever was necessary to promote development of a medical home for every home.
Addressing issues in San Antonio
Noemi Villarreal, health ...
Local and national events have pushed the subject of race, equality, and equity to the top of the city of Ashville, NC’s (6% Latino population) political agenda. In a response to widespread public acclaim, city officials have put forth an ambitious $433,000 initiative to establish an Office of Equity and Diversity as well as a plan for a racial disparity study of their community. Ashville’s City Council will review the plan, which is set to cost the city $350,000, during meetings in September 2016. The newly funded Office of Equity and Diversity will cost the city $110,000 this year and nearly $150,000 annually going forward. Staff have yet to be hired for the new department. “Statistics and other evidence can be used to show decisions and practices have discriminatory ...
A new book by mathematician Cathy O’Neil details the ways that math is being “used” to create (both intentionally and unintentionally) further racial inequities and inequalities in the United States. In a new book entitled Weapons of Math Destruction, O’Neil shows how algorithms and data, which are used in everything from targeted advertising to insurance rates to police presence, are often being used against minorities. “I worried about the separation between technical models and real people, and about the moral repercussions of that separation,” O’Neil wrote in the book. In her book, O’Neil’s models all use proxies as stand-ins for what people are actually trying to measure. For example, police officers analyze zip codes to deploy patrols, employers also use ...
Schools with more Latino students are more likely to have fast-food restaurants and tobacco retailers within “easy reach” of them, according to a new study. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, analyzed more than 18,000 public schools and found that more than 50% of Latino-majority schools were within 800 meters of both tobacco and fast food outlets Only 21% of white-majority schools were. "Schools are places where we expect to be healthy, supportive environments for kids, but right outside the door (students) could be exposed to unhealthy influences," author Heather D’Angelo of Westat in Rockville, MD, said in a recent Reuters interview. "I was surprised that there were so many tobacco outlets near schools." In Latino neighborhoods in general, ...
Many Latino immigrants arrive in Broward County, Fla. (27% Latino) with no community ties, no possessions, no (or little) money, and no prospects for employment. Aside from the everyday challenges of facing this scenario, they also often face legal questions or citizenship matters. That’s why Hispanic Unity of Florida (HUF) was founded to offer free legal aid to low-income families in their most troubling times, to relieve stress and, in turn, improve people’s health and quality of life. Magaly Alvarado, a program manager with HUF, knew that she and her organization could and should do more to help their community.
Latino immigrants & toxic stress
Broward County, Fla., is home to a diverse immigrant population as it has become a hub for many Latin American and Caribbean ...
