High-schoolers Samantha Almaraz and Pablo Ramirez see many classmates who struggle with hunger and poverty in the 85% Latino border town of McAllen, Texas. They wanted to help. So Samantha and Pablo, 10th-graders at Lamar Academy, started a school food pantry by working with their parents, school leaders, and using the Salud America! “School Food Pantry Action Pack” as a guide for their efforts. With their pantry, called the Energy Bar, they store leftover food from the cafeteria and distribute it to hungry students. "We're surrounded by people who are hungry and that don't get food,” said Samantha, who with Pablo is in the International Baccalaureate program at Lamar in McAllen ISD. "They tell us, ‘I don't have food waiting for me at home.’” The Energy Bar ...
Days after Salud America! members helped flood USDA with comments to protect the SNAP food assistance program, the comment period has reopened after a controversial new report. Comments now can be submitted until Nov. 1, 2019. The reopened comment period comes after a surprise release of USDA data that advocates say underscores the deep harm of its proposed rule to limit access to the SNAP. The change would eliminate food assistance for 3.1 million people and jeopardize free school meals for nearly 1 million kids, according to the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). “Even for those who remain eligible, forcing low-income families to navigate the burdensome paperwork will inevitably lead to eligible children losing access to a critical source of daily nutrition,” said ...
It is no coincidence that the region that has the highest percentage of Non-White students (90%) is also 11.7 times more likely to discipline their Black students than their White students, as data shows in ProPublica research. Worse, the District of Columbia is also 3.7 times more likely to discipline their Latino students than their White students. There are many other factors to consider when discussing racial inequity. Miseducation recently published an interactive map graphic that allows users to seek out their school district and compare it to others all over the U.S., using information from the United States Department of Education's civil rights data. This data covers school districts that are currently under Desegregation Orders. As of 2018, there are more than 50 ...
Suicide is rising drastically, especially in rural parts of the United States, according to a new study. The rate of suicide rose 41% among those ages 25-64 over the past 17 years of data. In addition, suicide rates among people living in rural counties were 25% higher than those in metro areas, NBC News reports. To reduce these inequities, the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) released a free Rural Suicide Prevention Toolkit. "The modules in the toolkit contain resources and information focused on developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining rural suicide prevention programs," RHIhub states on their website.
The Issue of Rural Health Care and Suicide
People who live in rural areas face unique health challenges: Limited access to primary and mental health ...
Access to affordable housing, coupled with residential segregation continues to be problematic for communities across the U.S. While this impacts many communities across the U.S., Latino, and African American communities are especially struck. Recent data goes to show that Latino neighborhoods face more significant risks of experiencing gentrification than other minority groups, according to the Harvard Gazette. The good news is, new solutions are emerging through policy and plans aimed at promoting equity in housing for all. One way current political leaders are trying to do this is through "Opportunity Zone" incentives. The problem? This kind of program can lead to the gentrification of racially segregated communities who face displacement when their home is ...
For over 100 days in 1996, Melanie Cambron experienced migraines so severe she couldn’t leave her home. Other maladies surfaced during this time — all of which had no reasonable explanation. It wasn’t until she discovered she was one of the many people experiencing Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT), that everything changed. “My symptoms kept escalating,” Cambron said. “There was a lot of cognitive dysfunction, also known as brain fog—an inability to think and form rational thoughts—lots of depression, lots of anxiety, wild mood swings, and just general malaise. “Doing one little activity, that would seem normal, would wipe me out for two days. I would be bedridden for a couple of days for just running one little, quick errand.” Since this ...
Hispanic Heritage Month is here! This annual U.S. observance, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, celebrates the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. We at Salud America! invite you to think outside the box and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in these awesome ways.
1. Find Out How Hispanic Heritage Month Started
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 ...
Mental health experts are worried as the Trump administration pursues new policy that would allow it to indefinitely detain migrant families who have crossed the U.S. border illegally, rather than a maximum of 20 days NPR reports. Detainment is damaging children's mental health, they say. "If the regulation goes through and we hope it will not ... we're going to see additional harm done to children," Luis Zayas, a clinical social worker and psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, told NPR.
Long Detainment Stays = Trauma
Detained immigrant children and families already face big stress, according to a recent study. Researchers interviewed 425 mothers of children at the detention center. The mothers filled out a questionnaire about mental health symptoms in their ...
Texas is one of five states that allows non-security school employees to carry firearms in schools—with permission and training. With 80 hours of training, these armed school employees are known as school marshals. In the past year, the number of school marshals in Texas increased by 325%, according to a new school safety state report released by Governor Greg Abbott. It provides an update on the state’s progress on recommendations made in the School Safety Action Plan, released in May 2018.
Improving School Safety?
Since the publication of the action plan, Texas passed 20 bills and appropriated $339 million to improve school safety. There is some disagreement as to which recommendations, and subsequent legislation, will be the most effective. For example, two 2018 ...
