Sacramento has mild weather, light rail, and many bike paths. But people still heavily depend on cars in this 23% Latino city, according to its relatively low walk score. Sacramento also is like many other California cities, where urban planners face a big challenge to create more ways for a rising population to walk and bike. Fortunately, a group of diverse youth are making a difference for more walking, bicycling, and skating.
Youth Step Up for Safer Streets
The Walk & Bike Youth Leaders Program started in Sacramento in 2017, thanks to the California Bicycle Coalition, California Walks, and the California Center for Civic Participation. Program organizers chose 11 youth ages 16-23. The youth will partake in four online training sessions. They will learn how to ...
Finding safe places for kids to play hasn't been easy for Latino families in Chicago. For example, 30 years ago, the federal government sued the Chicago Parks District for favoring parks in white neighborhoods and neglecting parks in African-American and Latino ones. Schools in Chicago didn't have equitable funding to maintain their own playgrounds over the years, either. At the same time, the nation was shifting to a school day with less time for recess—creating a "recess drought." But school officials wanted to play a role in increasing access to safe green space for Latino kids and families.
Solving the 'Recess Drought' (and Preventing Floods)
Chicago Public Schools, the third largest school district in the nation, took a big first step in 2011. They passed a recess ...
Latino kids and adults experienced historic increases in healthcare coverage when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded the amount of resources to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). But CHIP is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2017. Fortunately, good news is on the horizon for CHIP and kids. The U.S. Senate recently announced a bipartisan deal for funding to extend the “life” of the program, The New York Times reports. The new agreement would fund CHIP for an additional five years. Bill Frist, a Forbes contributor and former legislator, urged legislators to finalize the extension. "Healthier children. A more productive workforce. Less financial ruin for working families," Frist said of the benefits of CHIP.
The impact of CHIP
CHIP was ...
Two majority-Latino communities are among the eight winners of this year's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Culture of Health Prize. Chelsea, MA (62% Latino) and San Pablo, CA (55% Latino) were chosen from 200 applicants along with Algoma, WI, Allen County, KS, Garrett County, MD, Richmond VA, Vicksburg, MS, the Seneca Nation of Indians in Western New York. These communities made strong efforts to ensure their residents have the opportunity to live healthier lives. Winning communities get a $25,000 prize and will have their inspiring stories shared by RWJF. “For the past five years, RWJF Culture of Health Prize communities have inspired hope across the country,” said Dr. Richard Besser, RWJF President and CEO in a news release. “We welcome these eight new prize ...
Too often, a lack of healthcare coverage forces Latinos into the emergency room for non-emergency healthcare. Now, thanks to a new grant, the Center for Healthy Neighborhoods at California State University-Fullerton (CSUF) will create a promotores program to help local Latino families avoid unnecessary ER trips, according to The Orange County Register.
Why are ER trips an issue?
The community in Fullerton, Calif. (35.24% Latino population), faces numerous obstacles that prevent them from obtaining quality health care, which leads to extremely high rates of preventable ER visits, according to Kaiser Health Foundation-Anaheim. These obstacles include being “linguistically isolated,” lacking awareness, and affordability.
How the new program will reduce ER trips
The $40,000 ...
The science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce is no more diverse than it was 20 years ago. In fact, less than 2% of the STEM workforce is Latino youth, although they make up about 20% of the population, according to a factsheet by the U.S. Department of Education. Vacant STEM jobs and gaps in this growing career field mean gaps in income, health, and quality of life. It also means Americans lag behind in: advancing alternative energy source
curing diseases
predicting natural disasters
preventing cybercrime
protecting our citizens
securing sustainable food supply In order to promote STEM careers among Latino youth, we need to improve STEM programming beginning as early as preschool, promote STEM programs for Latinos, and boost high school ...
Texas State Parks are opening new natural play areas for children and people with disabilities to play and connect with nature. Latino kids in Texas (39.1% Latino), and across the country, lack safe outdoor places to play and be active, which is known as a nature deficit disorder. Families struggle to find green space that is both fun and appropriate for all age ranges. Particularly Latino families, which are often multigenerational. Childhood development leaders, architects, educators and urban planners worked together to design plans for natural playscapes in various outdoor spaces, like state parks, local parks, zoos, and botanical gardens to better engage kids and families with nature. Natural playscapes are designed to be built using natural materials and include boulders, ...
Schools in Fresno, CA (52.8% Latino) opened their green and blue spaces to the public. Green spaces are parks, playgrounds, sports fields and other outdoor play spaces. Blue spaces are swimming pools, lakes and rivers. Latino kids lack safe green and blue spaces, thus face higher rates of chronic disease, drowning, and drowning related injuries compared to white kids. In June 2016, the Fresno Parks, After School, Recreation, and Community Services Department (PARCS) started a new Weekend Recreation and Fitness Program (WRFP) to get help kids and families stay more active. With a $1.2 million dollar budget from the City of Fresno, Fresno Unified School District, and Central Unified School District, they opened school facilities, like playgrounds, sports fields and green space, ...
The first few years are critical for preparing kids for life, yet early childcare employees are the least prepared. They often only have a high school degree, thus aren’t equipped to give kids the care and services they need during their formative years. Mississippi Governor, Phil Bryant, told residents at the Neshoba County Fair in July 2017 that he plans to improve early childhood education across the state by training day care workers. He hopes to use federal and state funds to provide training through the state’s 15 community colleges, at no cost to the workers, according to one source. According to Governor Bryant’s Twitter account, “Our community colleges are now educating our childcare workers on early childhood education best practices. Our children deserve the ...
