SNAP’s Online Grocery Program Provides Healthy Food


Online food shopping SNAP Latinos

Food deserts cause countless American families to struggle with access to nutritious, healthy meals. While this issue is pervasive, government agencies are trying to make progress in this issue with novel approaches — using the ever-growing technological landscape. In 2014, the Farm Bill passed by congress introduced an Online Purchase Pilot (OPP) that gave beneficiaries an option to use SNAP to purchase groceries online for delivery. A recent study out of Yale University found this program has the potential to help those families who live in areas that lack access to fresh foods and produce. "For individuals using SNAP, there's been a lot of bad rap about the quality of food that they purchase, and there's not been a lot of focus on trying to support individuals getting ...

Read More

UPDATE – Coronavirus: Everything Latinos Need to Know


Latinos Coronavirus COVD-19 Virus

Updated 7/15/21 For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has afflicted many. In the U.S., certain local, state governments declared lock-downs and stay-in-place quarantines — efforts geared at limiting the spread of the novel COVID-19. Then lock-downs reopened, then locked down again as cases rose. Across the world, cases and deaths continue, as does public health responses, including vaccines. Governments, businesses, and people continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Latinos are experiencing worsening health inequities, disparities in exposure, testing, prevention and treatment, and job impact. Latinos are experiencing disproportionately more cases and deaths, too. As equitable vaccine distribution becomes the focus, Latinos aren't getting enough ...

Read More

Salud Talks Podcast Episode 21: “Dietary Discrimination”


STE21 Healthy Food Desert Access

Food insecurity is an issue gripping American families—including those in the Latino community—across the country. These individuals, who live in what experts call food deserts, can lack access to healthy, nutritious meals. Dwayne Wharton, an Independent Consultant with Dwayne Wharton & Partners and the former Director Of External Affairs at The Food Trust, joins Salud Talks to discuss this issue and what progress is needed to ensure Latinos and all Americans have access to healthy foods. Check out this discussion on the Salud Talks Podcast, Episode 21, "Dietary Discrimination"!  WHAT: A #SaludTalks discussion about widespread food insecurity impacting countless Latino and all American families GUEST: Dwayne Wharton, an Independent Consultant with Dwayne ...

Read More

4 Reasons We Have Traffic Safety All Wrong



Traffic fatality rates—in decline for 50 years—are rising again. Why? Not enough effort to get vehicles off the road, traffic safety experts say. Reducing vehicle travel can boost safety. It has many social, environmental, and health benefits, too, especially for Latinos who face many transportation barriers. Yet historical transportation planning had misplaced focus in four keys area: vehicle throughput to sprawling areas, vehicle travel safety over transportation system safety, vehicle safety over roadway safety, and reducing high-risk driving over all driving. Here is a breakdown of each issue, and why we desperately need reform. 1. Historical Focus on Vehicle Throughput to Sprawling Areas What is sprawl? Reid Ewing, a nationally recognized transportation-planning ...

Read More

How Can a Soda Tax Really Improve Health in Your Town?



A soda tax can stir up controversy. Health experts say they curb consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks. Detractors say they're bad for local businesses. Many don't like taxes in any instance. But most people miss what happens after soda tax revenue comes in. That's why we are excited to share a new video series, Health Investments for Berkeley, which celebrates the community-led public health work paid for, in part, by the nation's first-ever soda tax enacted in Berkeley, Calif., in 2014. The series, created by the Praxis Project, an Oakland health justice group, has four parts: Berkeley Unified School District Healthy Black Families Multicultural Institute Ecology Center "This series is intended to flip the national narrative around soda taxes that ...

Read More

How Vital is Affordable Housing for Single Latino Parents and Kids


Sad mother no affordable housing evicted eviction home

The number of children living in single-parent households has grown significantly over the past 50 years. In fact, it has actually doubled — jumping from 13% to 32% in 2017, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of US Census Bureau data. High cost-of-living, including necessities such as food and transportation, can significantly impact single parents. Worse, it can prohibit their ability to break cycles of poverty or build substantial wealth. Single Latino Parents In the US, there about half of each sing-parent race group are white, roughly 15% are Black, about one-fourth are Latino/Hispanic, and a small share are Asian. "These gaps are driven largely by racial differences among the large share of solo parents who are mothers," Gretchen Livingston with PEW ...

Read More

Researchers: Drug Side Effect Reporting Systems Lack Thorough Safety Measures


prescription drug side effects

Many severe side effects of prescription drugs are not reported, according to new findings from JAMA Internal Medicine. Moreover, the researchers who completed the study comment that current FDA regulatory practices need reform, especially the process used to report harm caused by medical devices. “Over the last 4 decades, the approval and regulation processes for pharmaceutical agents have evolved and increased in complexity as special programs have been added and as the use of surrogate measures has been encouraged,” the researchers write. “The FDA funding needed to implement and manage these programs has been addressed by expanding industry-paid user fees. The FDA has increasingly accepted less data and more surrogate measures and has shortened its review times.” What ...

Read More

#SaludTues Tweetchat 2/18: Shifting from Car-Centric Thinking to People-First Thinking



Many of our transportation woes are due to lack of realistic options. American cities have largely designed streets for speeding vehicles rather than for people walking, biking or taking the bus, resulting in high rates of traffic fatalities and injuries; air, water, and land pollution; and limited access to destinations needed to stay healthy and climb the economic ladder. Although people-first design has numerous social, environmental, health, and economic benefits; current car-centric policies and practices undermine these efforts. It’s time to better measure and prioritize people-first policies, practices, and projects. Let’s use #SaludTues on February 18, 2020, to tweet about how to shift from car-centric thinking to people-first thinking. WHAT: #SaludTues ...

Read More

City Leader Uses ‘Omnibus’ to Power Up Transit and Walkability in Richmond, Virginia


Andreas Addison transportation omnibus

“I feel like my life is threatened at each intersection.” That is what Andreas Addison said about walking the streets and relying on mass transit during his #NoCarNovember experiences in Richmond, Va., where he is a city council member. He wanted safer streets and more frequent transit for his constituents. So Addison found two models he liked─a D.C. city leader’s omnibus bill (one that combines several measures into one package) for better transit, more walkability, and less car reliance, and Virginia Commonwealth University’s work to make campus safer for pedestrians. Addison then began working on an omnibus bill of his own to create a safer environment for people walking, biking, and taking the bus in Richmond. Unfair Social and Health Outcomes in Richmond Life ...

Read More