Latino

Familias en Acción is recognized by the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association

La Voz Latina Award 2022

Familias en Acción is honored to be selected as this year’s recipient of the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association’s (OHBA) La Voz Latina Award. Community Health Worker and long-standing member of the Familias team, Zoraya Uder, accepted the award on Familias’ behalf during OHBA’s 20th Anniversary Dinner on July 22, 2022. 

The La Voz Latina Award recognizes organizations for their exceptional provision of legal or non-legal direct service to Oregon’s Latinx community and seeks to uplift organizations that enhance opportunities for the Latinx community of Oregon by: 

  • Empowering members of the Latinx community;
  • Providing free or low-cost services to underprivileged members of the Latinx community;
  • Creating and expanding opportunities for Latinx youth;
  • Advocating for causes that positively impact vulnerable members of the Latinx Community.

Thank you, OHBA, for this honorable award. We are both humbled and excited to be this year’s recipient and to continue providing resources to Latino/x/e communities in Oregon.

Pictured (left to right): Zoraya Uder, Jacqueline Alarcón and Octavio Uder at the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association’s 20th Anniversary Dinner.

Paul J. De Muniz Professionalism Award

Familias is also incredibly proud to announce that our board member, Jacqueline Alarcón, was the recipient of this year’s Paul J. De Muniz Professionalism Award at the OHBA Anniversary Dinner. This award honors individuals who are carrying on Paul J. De Muniz’s legacy – he became the first Latino Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court in 2006 and was also the first Latino member of the Oregon State Bar Board of Bar Examiners. He was the first Hispanic person to be elected to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Judge Alarcón was recently appointed to the Multnomah Circuit Court, and ​​has over a decade of legal experience representing clients throughout the Portland metropolitan area. Jacqueline is the current Board President of the Multnomah Bar Association and former Board President of Adelante Mujeres and the Oregon Women Lawyers Association. As part of the Latinx community, she has first-hand knowledge of the importance of health issues affecting Latino/e/x communities.

We could not be prouder of our staff, board, and community for all of the work we are doing to help Latino/x/es thrive. We thank the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association for this recognition and look forward to continuing to empower Latino/x/e communities.

Learn more about Familias’ programs
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Health and Prosperity for all Oregonians

“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” These words spoken by Mahatma Gandhi can guide us IF we take pause and reexamine the values and norms that have become the American way of life.  The norm that profits, not health, drive our health care system.  The norm that accepts health disparities for Latinos, African Americans, elderly and other vulnerable groups. 

Health and economic security for all Oregonians is an achievable goal!  But we Oregonians must face some painful but important truths: that we have become complacent in our values, in who deserves to be healthy and who will thrive.  Yes, even here in Oregon.

Here in Oregon and around the country, looking past death “rates” of COVID-19 to the actual people who are dying, we see the inequities. If we look past the food shortage at our grocery store, we see that work in the fields and processing plants is deemed “essential” yet the workers themselves are not seen as essential or even worthy.  Yet these are the workers that allow Oregonians to “shelter in place.”

To keep Oregon’s economy moving these essential workers have increased risk exposure. According to Washington County, nearly 60% of their Latinx community members who tested positive for COVID-19 work in health care, outdoor labor, factory/warehouse work, food service or grocery stores. In Marion County, about 35 percent of COVID-19 cases are Hispanic when only 27% of the residents are of Hispanic origin. Across our state Latinos make up 13-16% of the population yet make up 27% of those tested positive. Those numbers are undoubtedly low due to the lack of access to medical care.

Poverty and health are linked.  Unfortunately this is not a surprise to community leaders and health experts. The disparities have been there for a long time.  The question is: why has so little been done here in Oregon to systemically address the significant health and economic issues that underlie the COVID statistics? Is it racism, elitism or other isms?  Is it that some voices are not legitimate and do not count in the culture of Oregonian politics.  Is it that jobs are defined as “essential” but the people who perform them are not?  

We know the answers.    Communities of color and public health experts of color have solutions for health equity and models for eliminating health disparities.  We know that equitable partnerships between public health departments, health systems and community based organizations can reduce health disparities.  We know that Community Health Workers/Promotoras de Salud can improve chronic disease health outcomes for vulnerable community members.  We have the data and the models.

This horrific pandemic demonstrates the overdue need for a different way of problem solving.   We have seen that no one institution has the answers, capacity, and resources to bring us out of this pandemic.  Addressing the underlying health disparities during and post the COVID-19 requires partnerships between public, private, and community-based organizations.  Community leaders and health experts have seen that such partnerships work when they listen to the voices of those most impacted.

The pain of this pandemic is our opportunity for changes in Oregon. Will we be more prepared for our next global health crisis?  The now obvious disparities in our systems need to be addressed. And the values underneath those systems need clarity.   What values will define us?  Who will we elect to implement those values?  It is up to all Oregonians to decide how we should proceed after this pandemic.  It is up to all of us to define what the “new normal” will look like. 

Izzy Meda                                                                    Marie Dahlstrom
Executive Director                                                     Founder
Familias en Acción                                                     Familias en Acción
Portland, Oregon                                                       
 
 
Rosemary Celaya-Alston                                         Rebecca Huntley
Founder                                                                      Writer
Familias en Acción                                                    Familias en Acción
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Familias en Acción at the Oregon Hunger Response Day

Familias en Acción, through our Abuela, Mamá y Yo Community Council visited the Capitol last Thursday April 11. We participated in the Oregon Hunger Response Day, because we consider this a priority for the Latino Community and we need to learn more, to be informed and be capable of sharing this in our communities. We all know that Latino families struggle to access healthy nutritious food, sometimes because of lack of transportation and or food deserts, sometimes because of fear that we might be targeted if we apply for food assistance services, etc.

The goal of our Community Council is to learn more about health and food policy and become advocates for our families’ health.

Familias en Acción supporting the work of The Oregon Food Bank to end hunger by: ensuring access to affordable housing, securing funding for food banks, increasing SNAP match dollars at farmers markets and rural grocery stores across the state, raising the age for WIC to 6 and many others.

During a full day training our AMY Community Council attended workshops on Advocacy, learned about Double-up bucks, access to SNAP, Oregon Hunger Response Fund and more. After a full morning of trainings, we all walked to the Capitol  and we were able express our voice, needs and share why it’s important to end hunger in the Latino community to legislators.

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Familias en Acción & The Moore Institute

Working together to improve the health of Oregon Latinx

See original post from The Moore Institute here

The rapid rise of obesity and diabetes has been especially evident among Oregon Latinx communities. Latin American immigrants who arrived a generation or two ago were raised on traditional diets of beans, vegetables and grains. As their children and grandchildren transitioned to a “westernized” diet high in salt, sugar and fat and lacking in nutrients, rates of chronic disease began to rise.

Numbers of Oregon Latinx have doubled since 2000, now accounting for about 12 percent of the population. They have the highest rates of obesity among Oregon racial and ethnic groups with 40 percent of Latinx children either overweight or obese. Diabetes rates among Oregon Latinx have doubled since 1988, and they represent the highest rates of gestational diabetes among Oregon racial and ethnic groups.

From its inception, the Moore Institute found a receptive audience within the Latinx community for its message about the role of early life nutrition in establishing risk of lifelong chronic disease. Along the way we developed a working relationship with Familias en Acción that has blossomed over the years.

Now, Familias en Acción (Familias) is creating a culturally-specific nutrition curriculum grounded in the science of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) in conjunction with the Moore Institute. DOHaD research has demonstrated the lifelong impact of good nutrition during the first 1,000 days, from conception to about age two, in preventing chronic disease risk. Poor prenatal nutrition increases risk of developing chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes and heart disease in offspring as they become adults;and yet, Latinas in Oregon receive less prenatal care than non-Hispanic white women.

The plan is to develop a research-based, culturally and linguistically specific curriculum to build Latinx community knowledge and advocacy skills about food justice and family health. The project focuses on nutrition as a foundation for strengthening the health of Latino families and communities.

The Abuela Mama y Yo (AMY) curriculum differs from traditional nutritional programs because it addresses the root causes of health inequities. The curriculum will enhance knowledge of the role of the community environment in the availability of appropriate nutrition and level of social stress experienced prior to and during pregnancy. Participants will build their knowledge about the health impacts of poverty, racial discrimination, social disadvantages, and overall toxic stress on themselves and their children. Self-advocacy skills in food justice will build self-sufficiency for participants.

Once the curriculum is finalized, the second phase of the program will train 50 community leaders to conduct classes in the curriculum with a goal of reaching 350 Latinx individuals during the second year.

The Moore Institute understands that creating a healthier Oregon for all requires more work and commitment than any one group could do on its own. Working together with other similarly-missioned organizations like Familias en Acción, we can all reach our goals faster.

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