Latino communities often lack access to safe parks and green spaces. This Complete Parks Playbook by ChangeLab Solutions can help decision makers in Latino communities assess and improve their park system. Decision makers cannot determine park access by park existence alone, but they must take into account numerous factors: how people travel to parks; how parks are designed; what types of activities and amenities are provided; how, by whom and when parks are used; what types of plants and trees are planted in parks; how parks are maintained; and how parks are funded. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the following 7 elements when determining the status of a park system: Connect: creating safe routes to parks
Locate: ensuring equitable access to park
Grow: planting and ...
Brockton, Massachusetts is considered a federally designated food desert. Food deserts are urban areas where it is difficult to find local farmers markets or grocery stores. Latino's make up about ten percent of the population in Brockton, and around 10 percent of the population is struggling with Diabetes. So how can Latinos prevent diabetes when they live in food deserts? How about offering Latino's a shopping experience where they can change chips for broccoli to get points? Or offering store credit to those whose weight or blood pressure has dropped? Jason Barbosa's family business, New Vicente's Tropical Grocery is making public health history. The new store will offer shoppers a truly healthy shopping experience. “You can’t just run a business and not feel that it’s ...
How do you bring a community outdoors and provide green space for families in San Antonio? How about offering jobs and volunteer opportunities? The 63.2% of Latino families of San Antonio may be able to get more involved in outdoor activities through a new two-year initiative under the United States Department of Interior. The initiative was set to help conserve parks and enhance green space. YMCA of Greater San Antonio and the National League of Cities (NCL) have also provided 40,000 dollars towards a Community Coordinator, who will coordinate calendars and events to get youth involved in the initiative. Areas to be revived include the San Antonio Missions National Historical park.To get more involved in conserving natural spaces, youth and families can visit the Texas ...
How can WIC and SNAP participants have easier access to farmers markets? How about a Pop-up Farmers Market? This mobile farmers market in Portland that looks like a 20th buggy car or some type of a new bike. Although it looks strange, it may help the over 48,600 Latinos living in the area avoid living in food deserts by providing healthy food access. Accepting WIC and SNAP, this fresh market allows members to even match dollar per dollar for food to encourage everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables. Fresh veggies and fruit such as berries, green beans, and summer squash are available. To see more, click ...
Physical inactivity is not only harmful to one's health, it drastically reduces economic productivity. Active cities have lower crime, reduced pollution, better civic engagement, and improved average productivity. Designed to move created a guide for city leaders including: Why we need active cities
How to encourage activity
Which cities are doing this well
Tools and resources You can make a difference, even if you are not a city planner or politician. Look for those who are creating change in your community using Salud America's change finder. Active Cities Guide ...
Six hundred and fifty food pantries across the state are swapping traditional can goods at their food pantries for fresh produce. The demand for eating whole foods is high as doctors and nutritionist are encouraging more fresh and less processed foods. This is essential for Latino families who are less likely to have access to healthier foods in their neighborhoods, as studies show. Renovations are not cheap, but are being spear headed by grants and donations from the leader of the states food pantries, the Greater Boston Food Bank. Their fresh produce makes up 25 percent of the 51 million pounds of food it distributes annually and they hope to only increase their fresh produce from here. You can read more in the recent article from The Boston Globe, where LaFontaine the ...
Having access to healthier foods is becoming easier in certain schools there is a growing trend for students to grow gardens in the small green spaces around the school. What about pre-school aged kids? Can they learn to garden? All aged kids need vegetables and fruits in their diet, especially Latino kids who's population only continues to grow according to studies. USDA now has a resource that answers the questions many parents or school leaders may wonder in trying to put in place a farm to pre-school garden. To learn more about how Latino preschool kids can grow their school gardens, click ...
Clean water access for Californians is a large issue for many rural latino families. California has the largest Latino population in the U.S. and unfortunately many without access to uncontaminated drinking water. According to the Community Water Center, California’s San Joaquin Valley has the highest rates of contaminated drinking water as well as the greatest number of public water systems with Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) violations in the state. The good news is that Federal and State investments along with California-based organizations are working on water quality and quantity in the dry state. A new partnership focused on conserving and restoring Sierra-Cascade California Headwaters will work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other partners to ...
Kentucky, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama are among USDA's top states to receive 2015 Federal funding through the new initiative Local Food, Local Places.
Local Food, Local Places is a federal initiative providing direct technical support to help local food systems and grow local economy as well as help provide community kitchens, food hubs, enhance public spaces for people to walk or bike to farmers markets, and encourage gardens in schools.Communities work together in a holistic approach, with experts from all fields, including public health, environmental, agricultural, transportation, and regional economics. Harvesting the reports from 2014, the program brought in over 11 billion dollars and showed that local food is growing in popularity and sustainability. ...
