At the end of her life, Samarys Seguinot-Medina hopes to say she made the world a safer place to live for the children in her family. Seguinot-Medina has known two personal truths since she was young: Nature, as well as humanity, are worth fighting for; and there are countless issues to battle — causing her to devote her time, career to promoting environmental justice and chemical safety. That is why, for almost 10 years, Seguinot-Medina and her colleagues at Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) worked to ban hazardous flame-retardant chemicals, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), in Alaska (8.9% Latino). Those efforts eventually resulted in passing Assembly Ordinance 2019-15(S), or the Toxic Free Children Ordinance, an Anchorage-wide ban of products containing those ...
During the 2018 midterm election cycle, U.S. voters passed 17 of 20 public transportation ballot measures—two remain undecided. Over the past two decades, Americans have voted in favor of public transportation more than 70% of the time, according to Josh Cohen, campaign director at the Center for Transportation Excellence. Earlier in 2018 during the primary elections, voters passed 13 of 16 measures supporting public transit; during the 2017 general election, voters passed seven of eight measures; and during the 2016 general election, voters passed 33 of the 49 measures. Elected leaders at the local and state level are getting the hint and increasingly addressing public transit issues while campaigning. “These candidates know that public transportation is an issue that ...
Does your city want to embrace the winter, rather than merely endure it? Apply for Wintermission! Wintermission will coach three U.S. cities to plan, pilot, and implement creative solutions to increase social interaction and physical activity among children, newcomer families, and other vulnerable communities in public spaces during the coldest, darkest months of the year. Applications, offered by nonprofit 8 80 Cities, are due Nov. 29, 2018. “Building a culture of public life outside in winter also helps build a culture of public life in all seasons,” according to the 8 80 Cities website.
Improving Social and Physical Activity in Winter
Fewer people spend time outdoors in the winter, which contributes to lower rates of physical activity and social ...
As an avid cyclist, Brian Pearson loved riding the new $8 million hike-and-bike trail in his town of Fall River, Mass. (8% Latino). Then he learned a new road project could damage the trail. The 2.4-mile Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail—which fully opened in May 2017 after nine years of work and an $8 million investment by the state to improve mobility and access to safe places to play—was jeopardized when city officials tried to enable a developer to build a road that would have crossed and re-routed the trail. Pearson and others were outraged. They gathered information, attended city meetings, and held a rally. They even hired a lawyer to fight for trail preservation. Would it be enough to save the trail?
Restoring the River The Quequechan River Rail ...
Cam Juarez knows the bad stats. Latinos are just 2% of visitors to Saguaro National Park, despite being 40% of the population in Pima County, Ariz. They miss a big chance to connect with nature and be physically active. Heck, Juarez himself lived nearby for 26 years before visiting Saguaro. Now Juarez's job—Saguaro's "community engagement coordinator"—is to raise Latino park attendance. And, by mixing cultural events with workforce diversity and bilingual community and school outreach, he's helped raised attendance and at the same time created a model for other parks to solve a national issue: How to get Latinos to come to national parks. How'd Juarez do it?
Latinos, Physical Activity, and National Parks
Cam Juarez was born with a heart defect—likely due to the ...
When it comes to Latinos and alcohol, there is good news and bad news. Good news: More Latinos have never had even one drink of alcohol (31.8%) than their white peers (15.8%). Bad news: About 1 in 10 Latinos will have alcohol dependence at some point in their lives, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. More than 33% of these Latinos will have recurrent or persistent problems compared, a higher rate than their white peers (22.8%). Either way, some Latinos do struggle with alcoholism. That makes it a problem that public health officials should address.
Latinos and Alcohol: Stats
Not all Hispanic groups are equal when it comes to drinking and alcohol-related problems, according to an expert who has been studying the alcohol pattern in Latinos for ...
More than one-third of U.S. high-school students were overweight or obese, including a higher rate among Latinos (37.7%) than their black (36%) and white (26.5%) peers, according to new CDC data. Sharp disparities were also found in Latino sleep habits and health conditions like asthma.
The Data
The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System monitors health-related behaviors. These behaviors usually develop during childhood and early adolescence. They contribute to the leading causes of death among youth and adults in the United States. The CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey is part of the surveillance system. It examines 121 health-related behaviors of high-schoolers. Today we're examining the data on obesity, sleep, and asthma.
Latino Youth and Obesity
More Latino and black ...
Suicide rates have increased drastically across the United States from 1999-2016, according to a new report released by the CDC. Suicide rates are highest among White and Native American/Alaska Native populations. However, suicide rates for Latinos and African Americans are continually rising, the data shows. There were also significant increases in several states including Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Additionally, more than half the suicides in 2015 were among people with no known mental health conditions, according to an article in the Boston Globe. On the heels of two recent celebrity suicides - Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain - the “data are disturbing,” Anne Schuchat of the CDC told SCNow. “The widespread nature of the increase, in every state but ...
Omar Gonzalez and many of his neighbors love playing nightly pick-up soccer games on the fields at Harriet Tubman Elementary School in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Gonzalez never expected to get kicked off the field. But that's what happened one night when a local sports league, which had mostly white players in uniforms, showed a permit they had paid to use the fields. They asked the neighbors to stop their game and leave. Gonzalez and his neighbors were confused. No one had ever used a permit to play there on weeknights. So they started a battle to allow open and fair usage of the fields.
Sports and field use across the country
After-school sports are great for building youth leaders and boosting health. However, Latino kids are less likely than ...
