Search Results for "rural"

9 Big Actions for Safe Routes to Healthy Food


bus at grocery store

Everyone deserves a safe and reliable way to get to healthy food—whether a supermarket, corner store, food bank, farmers market, or community garden. Unfortunately, many Latinos and people in low-income communities, rural communities, and communities of color are disproportionately burdened by long and unreliable commutes, as well as unsafe routes to nutritious food. That’s why the Safe Routes to Healthy Food Task Force worked for two years to refine the concept of safe routes to healthy food. Now they’ve released a new report with policy implications, opportunities, and recommendations. “This collaboration demonstrated that improving access to healthy foods for people without cars can be improved by a variety of sectors, including: transportation, healthy food access, ...

Read More

Surprising Ways that Fire Is Messing with Your Health


camp fire latino friends health risks

Sitting around a fire can be a great source of warmth and fun for most; however, it also has the potential to cause a host of health complications. Tiny toxins—PM2.5 (pollution particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less)—commonly known as “combustion particles” come from these fires and can cause some severe health impacts, research shows. Even worse, those using wood-burning stoves can face some of the worst effects. "We are increasingly concerned about particulate matter air pollution and other forms of air pollution," Dr. Joel Kaufman, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, medicine and epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the American Heart Association. "There's increasing evidence that certain pollutants are associated ...

Read More

SNAP’s Online Grocery Program Provides Healthy Food


Online food shopping SNAP Latinos

Food deserts cause countless American families to struggle with access to nutritious, healthy meals. While this issue is pervasive, government agencies are trying to make progress in this issue with novel approaches — using the ever-growing technological landscape. In 2014, the Farm Bill passed by congress introduced an Online Purchase Pilot (OPP) that gave beneficiaries an option to use SNAP to purchase groceries online for delivery. A recent study out of Yale University found this program has the potential to help those families who live in areas that lack access to fresh foods and produce. "For individuals using SNAP, there's been a lot of bad rap about the quality of food that they purchase, and there's not been a lot of focus on trying to support individuals getting ...

Read More

4 Reasons We Have Traffic Safety All Wrong



Traffic fatality rates—in decline for 50 years—are rising again. Why? Not enough effort to get vehicles off the road, traffic safety experts say. Reducing vehicle travel can boost safety. It has many social, environmental, and health benefits, too, especially for Latinos who face many transportation barriers. Yet historical transportation planning had misplaced focus in four keys area: vehicle throughput to sprawling areas, vehicle travel safety over transportation system safety, vehicle safety over roadway safety, and reducing high-risk driving over all driving. Here is a breakdown of each issue, and why we desperately need reform. 1. Historical Focus on Vehicle Throughput to Sprawling Areas What is sprawl? Reid Ewing, a nationally recognized transportation-planning ...

Read More

14 States Are Strengthening ‘Head Start’ for At-Risk Children, Families


Head Start helps at risk children and families

Communities are increasingly concerned about the rise of poverty, homelessness, trauma, and opioids among children and families. However, few states address these issues by investing money in Head Start programs, which are proven to strengthen families, promote school readiness, and improve child health. The good news is that lawmakers in 14 states are investing over $400 million each budget cycle for local Head Start and Early Head Start programs, according to a new analysis by the National Head Start Association and Voices for Healthy Kids. These investments will help serve more kids─but millions are still left out. Crisis of At-Risk Children and Families Many children and families face difficult situations: persistent childhood poverty the unrelenting opioid ...

Read More

How Vital is Affordable Housing for Single Latino Parents and Kids


Sad mother no affordable housing evicted eviction home

The number of children living in single-parent households has grown significantly over the past 50 years. In fact, it has actually doubled — jumping from 13% to 32% in 2017, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of US Census Bureau data. High cost-of-living, including necessities such as food and transportation, can significantly impact single parents. Worse, it can prohibit their ability to break cycles of poverty or build substantial wealth. Single Latino Parents In the US, there about half of each sing-parent race group are white, roughly 15% are Black, about one-fourth are Latino/Hispanic, and a small share are Asian. "These gaps are driven largely by racial differences among the large share of solo parents who are mothers," Gretchen Livingston with PEW ...

Read More

Shared Use of a School Can Boost Community Health


Shared use of school dance class community

Schools can serve as so much more than space for children to learn. They can even transform community health. That is, if schools share their spaces with the public when classes are out. Fortunately, the team at ChangeLab Solutions is showing how easy and beneficial it is for schools to share use of school grounds with local residents and groups after and before school, and during summer. What Is Shared Use of Schools? Playing can help a kid’s healthy brain development. But many communities are not kid-play-friendly. Latino neighborhoods tend to lack safe places that welcome kids and multi-generational families to play. Many schools lock up their facilities after class ends. Shared use agreements—also called open use or joint use—are specific plans and rules that ...

Read More

Emily Reyes: Finding Ways to Reduce Latino Health Disparities



Having worked firsthand with promotoras de salud, Emily Reyes understands the important role community health workers play in addressing Latino health disparities. Reyes, who has a master’s degree in public health from California State University, Fullerton, specializes in health promotion and regularly works with underserved communities to bring health equity and sustainable change through education, services and civic participation. Her interests include improving rural health, public policy, and infectious diseases research─all done with the same resilience and grit as her mother, who earned a master’s degree while raising a family as a single mom. To further her experience and education, Reyes applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training ...

Read More

Salud Talks Podcast Episode 13: “Healthcare Deserts”


STE13 Pic

Rural communities throughout the U.S. do not receive equal access to quality medical treatment. Some live so far from the nearest hospital that they will have to take a day off work to make a doctor's appointment, according to our guest Jordan Rassmussen, the Policy Manager of the Center for Rural Affairs. Check out this discussion on the #SaludTalks Podcast, Episode 13, "Healthcare Deserts"! WHAT: A #SaludTalks discussion on the inequities rural Latinos and Americans face in receiving healthcare treatment GUEST: Jordan Rassmussen, Policy Manager of the Center for Rural Affairs WHERE: Available wherever fine podcasts are downloaded, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Tune In, and others WHEN: The episode went live at 5:00 p.m., Dec. 11, ...

Read More