This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
Latino communities lack green spaces that are safe, accessible, functional, and culturally relevant.
What Are Green Spaces?
Within urban, suburban, and rural communities, green space can be natural or maintained outdoor public space, such as parks, playgrounds, sporting fields, school yards, day care and early care yards, greenways/trails, tree-lined sidewalks, community gardens, nature conservation areas, forests, as well as less conventional urban “green alleyways,” “pocket parks,” and green walls or roofs [52].
Green Space Inequities Exist
Unfortunately, access to and quality of green space is not equitably distributed. Compared with ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
U.S. Latinos report specific transportation challenges that arise due to the discrepancy between where Latinos live versus where they work. These challenges include transit fare affordability, reliability, and coverage.
Latinos Use Public Transit Frequently
According to the Pew Research Center, Americans who are lower-income, non-White, immigrants, or under 50 are most likely to use public transportation on a regular basis [39]. Among urban residents, 27% of Latinos use public transit daily or weekly, compared to 14% of non-Latino Whites, and foreign-born urban residents are 20% more likely to regularly use public transportation than native-born urban ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
A pattern of Latino migration to small town and rural areas in the Southeast and Midwest instead of to traditional urban centers has led to the formation of isolated, segregated rural Latino communities with unique housing and transportation needs.
The Latino Population Shift: From Urban to Rural
Real estate and transportation trends have shown two prominent residential shifts among Latinos. First of all, in urban areas, Latinos are living farther from transport hubs and amenities, where housing is more affordable. Secondly, a large number of Latinos are migrating into new areas where jobs are available and rents are more affordable, primarily to ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
An increasing number of Latinos are burdened by high housing costs and can even face possible eviction, displacing them from urban centers near public transport to the fringes of urban areas, where transport, services, and employment are more difficult to access.
Housing Affects Health
Currently at 58.6 million, Latinos account for more U.S. population growth than any other demographic [1]. Public policy has led to decades of disinvestment in low-income communities and communities of color in the United States, which has led to worsened physical and mental health in these communities [16, 17]. Health equity refers to the ability of all individuals to ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Abstract
Across the United States, Latino communities vary in affordable housing, safe and adequate transit, parks and open green space, and other elements that are necessary to fully thrive and achieve health equity. These differences in opportunity result in health disparities between different zip codes or census tracts—with poor health outcomes more prevalent in communities of color and low-income communities. It is perhaps even more critical to address these underlying social, economic, and environmental factors that contribute to health than to address the health disparities directly if we are to hope for long term changes in community health and ...
The number of U.S. pedestrians struck and killed by drivers rose 35% in the past decade, with higher rates in lower-income than high-income neighborhoods, according to the new Dangerous by Design report from Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition. More people walking were killed in 2017 than any year on record since 1990. Why? Our streets aren’t getting safer. We continue to design streets that are dangerous for pedestrians, particularly for older adults, Latinos and other people of color, and those in low-income communities. “To reverse this trend and save lives, we need to protect all users of the transportation system through our policies, programs, and funding,” according to the Dangerous by Design report.
The Most Dangerous Places to ...
Disparities in advertising for unhealthy food continue to target Latino and Black youth, according to a new report from Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut, the Council on Black Health at Drexel University, and Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. Eight out of 10 food ads seen by Latino children on Spanish-language TV promote fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and snacks. Unhealthy food marketing aimed at youth is a contributor to poor diets and related diseases, like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Targeting Latino and Black youth with unhealthy marketing contributes to disparities in health. That’s why the UConn Rudd Center first explored food-related TV advertising in 2013. Since then, the 10 companies with the most targeted ...
Latinos make up nearly 18% of the U.S. population and are the largest ethnic minority. Even 1 in 4 U.S. kids is Latino, mostly U.S.-born citizens. Yet with the current political climate of inflammatory rhetoric, parental separation, and tear-gassing of migrants along the border, many Latinos feel the burden of an anti-immigrant climate, according to a research report. “Current discourse about immigrants and immigration tends to be dehumanizing,” Dr. R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez, assistant professor of Population Health at NYU’s School of Medicine and lead author of the study, told HuffPost. “Dehumanization is never healthy.”
The Alarming Study Findings
This appalling rhetoric is harmful for Latinos, regardless of their immigration status, according to the new ...
Teens with more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are more likely to have overweight, obesity, and severe obesity than those with no ACEs, according to a new Minnesota study. Youth with one ACE─psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, familial substance abuse, domestic violence, or parental incarceration─were 1.38 times as likely to have obesity than youth with no ACEs. Those with all six ACEs were 2.03 times as likely to have obesity. Additionally, Latino youth were 1.38 times as likely to be overweight as white non-Latinos. “Our results imply that child health professionals should understand the relationship between ACEs and weight status in adolescence, and that screening for ACEs and referring youth and their families to appropriate services might be an ...
