Volunteering for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s helps other people. It gives the volunteer a nice emotional boost, too. So why not volunteer your "digital voice" or "actions"? We at Salud America! invite you to take or start these 13 actions to promote health equity for Latino and all families this holiday season!
1. Speak Up to Limit Sugar in Dietary Guidelines!
A few years ago, scientists advised federal leaders to adjust the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to lower added sugar intake from 10% to 6% of daily calories and reduce men’s daily alcohol intake from two to one drink a day. That advice was not taken. Now those scientists – the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee – are asking for public comment as they again prepare to recommend changes ...
Where you live can hurt or help your health. In fact, our health is influenced by a variety of non-medical factors, such as the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work, and age. These conditions are known as non-medical drivers of health (NMDoH). Sometimes, needs can arise from differences in NMDoH. These needs include low wages and limited employee benefits; underperforming schools; lack of medical providers; unstable and unaffordable housing; low access to nutritious food; unreliable transportation options; and unsafe streets and parks. Here at Salud America!, we believe everyday people can make healthy changes in their community to address these needs. That’s right – you don’t need to hold political office to make a positive difference. Let’s ...
Hispanic Heritage Month is here! This annual U.S. observance, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, celebrates the histories and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. We at Salud America! invite you to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in these surprising ways.
1. Learn How Hispanic Heritage Month Began
U.S. Congressmen Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles and Henry B. Gonzales were among those who introduced legislation on the topic in 1968. President Lyndon Johnson implemented the observance as Hispanic Heritage Week that year. U.S. Rep. Esteban E. Torres of Pico Rivera proposed the observance be expanded to cover its current 30-day period. President Ronald Reagan implemented the expansion to Hispanic ...
A few years ago, scientists advised federal leaders to adjust the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to lower added sugar intake from 10% to 6% of daily calories and reduce men’s daily alcohol intake from two to one drink a day. That advice was not taken. Now those scientists – the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee – are asking for public comment as they again prepare to recommend changes to the dietary guidelines. This is an opportunity to speak up for nutrition! Submit a model comment created by Salud America! to urge lower added sugar and alcohol intake in the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans! The comment period opened Jan. 19, 2023, and closed on Oct. 1, 2024. October 2024 UPDATE: 266 Salud America members submitted our model comment ...
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing to consider pedestrians in their vehicle safety rating system. That is good news for a system that has ignored the safety of people outside the vehicle wherein "pedestrian fatalities have skyrocketed 77% since 2010, compared to 25% for all other traffic-related deaths," according to preliminary data from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). But the news isn’t all good. NHTSA’s proposed changes to the vehicle safety rating system – the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) – are insufficient. The changes do not differentiate between pedestrian injury risk and fatality risk, and they fail to fully inform consumers about the true risk to pedestrians from vehicles, lessening the potential ...
We have updated our Salud America! Report Card to cover your county’s child opportunity score, environmental justice score, location affordability, and transit access. The Report Card, first launched in 2017, auto-generates Latino and local data with interactive maps and comparative gauges, which can help you visualize and explore local inequities in housing, transit, poverty, health care, food, education, and more. You will see how your county stacks up in these health improvement issues — now including child opportunity, location affordability, and transit access — compared to your state and the nation. Then you can share the Report Card with your local leaders to shift from individualist thinking to advocating for systemic community change for health equity! Get your ...
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sought public comments on its proposal to limit and regulate several types of “forever chemicals” called perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS have been around since the 1940s and are known for their resistance to environmental degradation – hence their nickname, “forever chemicals.” EPA’s proposed changes are in response to recent research that PFAS harm human health, with negative impacts from fetal growth to cancer risk. June 2023 Update: 832 Salud America! members submitted a model comment to support the regulation of PFAS in drinking water and the environment to protect the health of Latino and all communities. 121,969 people submitted comments overall. Comment period ended May 30, ...
For too long, the blame for our nation’s high traffic fatality rate has fallen on individual drivers and factors, rather than on environmental and systemic traffic safety factors. One of the contributors to and consequences of this approach is insufficient crash data. Insufficient crash data hinders efforts to define and monitor the problem and identify risk and protective factors, and thwarts strategies to prevent these unnatural and gruesome deaths. Now is your opportunity to urge federal leaders to collect better crash data to guide traffic safety. Public comments are wanted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on revisions to the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC), a voluntary guideline of standardized crash data variables for state and ...
The USDA has sought comments on a proposed rule to increase the number of high-poverty schools that can offer free school meals for all students. The proposal would expand the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40% to 25%. That means more schools and districts can opt into the CEP, which can: Increase school meal participation.
Reduce stigma.
maximize federal reimbursements.
eliminate unpaid meal charges.
reduce paperwork for school staff and families. “Many schools and even some entire states have successfully provided free meals to all their students,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We applaud their leadership in nourishing children and hope this proposed ...
