Youth suicides have spiked over the last decade, and substance misuse is exacting a heavy toll on teens, according to a new report. The report from Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust, Addressing a Crisis: Cross-Sector Strategies to Prevent Adolescent Substance Use and Suicide, indicates that trends are worse for racial/ethnic, gender, and other minority youth. The report also highlights emerging approaches to help put youth on healthy pathways into adulthood. "Adolescence is a challenging time when the impact of poverty, discrimination, bullying and isolation can be intense," said John Auerbach, head of Trust for America’s Health, in a statement. "Fortunately, there are policies and programs that can reduce some of these circumstances and the risks associated ...
High-schoolers Samantha Almaraz and Pablo Ramirez see many classmates who struggle with hunger and poverty in the 85% Latino border town of McAllen, Texas. They wanted to help. So Samantha and Pablo, 10th-graders at Lamar Academy, started a school food pantry by working with their parents, school leaders, and using the Salud America! “School Food Pantry Action Pack” as a guide for their efforts. With their pantry, called the Energy Bar, they store leftover food from the cafeteria and distribute it to hungry students. "We're surrounded by people who are hungry and that don't get food,” said Samantha, who with Pablo is in the International Baccalaureate program at Lamar in McAllen ISD. "They tell us, ‘I don't have food waiting for me at home.’” The Energy Bar ...
Bullying is a fact of life for many kids, especially those of color. 24.7% of African-American students and 17.2% of Latino students report being bullied at school. Race-related bullying is significantly associated with negative emotional and physical health effects, according to a Salud America! research review. On the plus side, many resources—including many in Spanish—can help prevent or address bullying.
Website: StopBullying.Gov En Español
StopBullying.gov, an initiative of the US Department of Education's Office of Safe and Healthy Students, has a Spanish-language website. Like the English-language version, the site provides teachers, parents and community leaders with the resources they need to prevent bullying. It also contains research and best practices on ...
It is no coincidence that the region that has the highest percentage of Non-White students (90%) is also 11.7 times more likely to discipline their Black students than their White students, as data shows in ProPublica research. Worse, the District of Columbia is also 3.7 times more likely to discipline their Latino students than their White students. There are many other factors to consider when discussing racial inequity. Miseducation recently published an interactive map graphic that allows users to seek out their school district and compare it to others all over the U.S., using information from the United States Department of Education's civil rights data. This data covers school districts that are currently under Desegregation Orders. As of 2018, there are more than 50 ...
In every state, paying for child care continues to strain family budgets, and government subsidies aren’t helping enough with the cost, according to new fact sheets. Even when families can afford it, child care can be hard to find. That’s why the new fact sheets, created annually by the Center for American Progress (CAP), highlight child care prices, gaps in funding and access, and wages of child care workers─as well as policies that could address these inequities for Latino and all families. “Comprehensive early learning policies such as capping the amount families pay for child care, implementing universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, and ensuring all eligible children receive child care subsidies would provide enormous benefits to families and state economies,” ...
Disparities in chronic disease, injury, and premature death contribute to worse health outcomes, decreased productivity, and increased direct and indirect healthcare costs for minority racial/ethnic populations and people with low socioeconomic status. Inequities in housing, transportation, environmental issues, and access to healthcare, mental health, healthy food and active spaces contribute to these disparities. But we can’t address these inequities if we don’t have local data to show the way. Data like the new Salud America! Health Equity Report Card can identify health inequity issues in your county, compared to the state and nation, and help you build a case toward solutions. Let’s use #SaludTues on September 24, 2019, to tweet about how you can use data to make ...
When it comes to enrolling and graduating Latinos, public colleges and universities in most states are failing, according to new research by The Education Trust. Latinos are not getting their fair share of seats or degrees from public institutions of higher education in nearly every state when compared with state demographics and White peers. This, at a time when the U.S. Latino population is rising. Why is this inequity happening? It's not about a lack of talent or aspirations among Latinos—it's the result of "structural racism and injustices throughout the education pipeline" that make it harder to pursue high education, according to the report. “A college degree is the surest path to the middle class. The fact that Latinos don’t have equitable access to enrolling in ...
Texas is one of five states that allows non-security school employees to carry firearms in schools—with permission and training. With 80 hours of training, these armed school employees are known as school marshals. In the past year, the number of school marshals in Texas increased by 325%, according to a new school safety state report released by Governor Greg Abbott. It provides an update on the state’s progress on recommendations made in the School Safety Action Plan, released in May 2018.
Improving School Safety?
Since the publication of the action plan, Texas passed 20 bills and appropriated $339 million to improve school safety. There is some disagreement as to which recommendations, and subsequent legislation, will be the most effective. For example, two 2018 ...
Some kids witness domestic violence or murder. Some see loved ones hurt in accidents. These kids still have to go to class, carrying a burden of stress and trauma that can interfere with their behavior and grades—in schools that aren’t even aware there’s an issue. Fortunately, you can help these kids. Download the free Salud America! “Handle With Care Action Pack.” The Action Pack helps police, school, and mental healthcare leaders start the Handle with Care program, in which police notify schools when they encounter children at a traumatic scene, so schools can provide support right away. GET THE ACTION PACK! The Action Pack was created by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Salud America! Latino health equity program at UT Health San Antonio and Andrea Darr, ...
