It is with honor and gratitude that we announce, Familias en Acción is the recipient of a $2 million gift from the Yield Giving Open Call, an initiative created by philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
In 2023, our Development team completed a multi-step application and peer-review process to apply for this funding opportunity. From a pool of over 6,000 applicants, we were one of 361 organizations across the country, and one of only three organizations in Oregon to receive an award.
This transformational gift will enable us to continue to deliver on our mission of strengthening the health and well-being of Latino families and communities in Oregon. It will allow us to sustain and expand programming statewide in Oregon, directly benefiting members of our community.
We want to thank all of our staff, board, community members, partners, and donors for helping us to get to this point. This award would not have been possible without everyone’s dedication to and belief in our health equity work.
Thank you for your continued support, partnership, and words of encouragement. This is the power of community.
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.
We want to share a little of Adriana Govea’s story with you. She’s from Mexico City and moved to the United States in 1994. She began participating at Familias en Acción in 2018, where most of her effort has been devoted to our Abuela, Mamaá, y Yo (AMY) program. Adriana has also taken part in Familias’ leadership training programs, including AMY training, and she has become an active advocate for improving the health of her family and community. When asked about AMY, she said, “I love it. I grew up with my Grandma, and this program reminds me of her and her traditional dishes. For me, she is still alive and present; she made me what I am today. AMY takes you back and makes you think about your roots and where you came from. It’s easy to move somewhere and adapt to the culture, forgetting who you are. So AMY makes you reflect on who you are and think, ‘Why am I here, what am I doing? I came for a dream, to keep my family moving forward…”
She believes AMY “promotes leadership and provides a model that doesn’t try to change people…It helps you recognize that you have a voice and makes you see a reflection of yourself.”
Adriana sees her community as strong and connected. “We treat everyone equally, we are united, and we strive even while living in a place with so much hate and with people reminding us that we’re not from here…yet we can still remain positive.” However, Adriana wants to see more “equity and more opportunities for everyone, especially more programs like AMY. AMY is a welcoming program where “You want to be here because of who you are, not who you represent.”
Here is one of Adriana’s favorite recipes that she would like to share with our communities:
Recipe: Vaquera salad
Ingredients:
1 cup each of four types of beans:
black, pinto, kidney, peruvian
Bell peppers:
1 green, 1 yellow, 1 red
2 tomatoes
Cilantro
2 cloves of Garlic
2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil
Juice of ½ large lime or 1 medium lime
Pinch of salt and pepper
½ Sweet onion
Optional: chopped spicy peppers
Optional: avocado
Instructions:
Cook each type of beans until well-cooked. Chop the peppers, onion and tomatoes in cubes. Put the vegetables in a large bowl and add all the cooked beans. Peel and chop the garlic. In a small bowl, combine it with the oil, salt, pepper and lime juice to make the dressing. Add the dressing to a large bowl and mix well. Garnish with cilantro or avocados. Enjoy!
As our Abuela, Mamá, y Yo (AMY) program has grown and expanded in the last few months, we would like to introduce a new series of featured recipes that will be shared by various people throughout the Latino + Latinx communities of Oregon who are involved in the AMY program.
María recognizes that times are hard. “Our mental state is not easy, what with racism, discrimination, and the need to be forever alert, wondering how we look to others, how our ethnicity goes over.” Her dream is for the Latino community to feel proud of who we are and also knowledgeable of how to take care of ourselves. She would like us to make exercise a part of our everyday lives and to modify traditional recipes to make them healthier. She has been delighted to form part of “Abuela, Mamá y Yo” and likes to imagine a future in which we are healthy and strong. She understands that to get there, we must take action now.
I would like to tell you a little about María Segura. She is from Mexico and arrived in the U.S. eleven years ago. For the past five years, she has been actively involved in the programs that Familias en Acción offers. After taking leadership seminars and thorough training, she now facilitates several of our health education programs: Abuela, Mamá y Yo, “Tomando Control de su Salud”, “Manejo Personal de su Diabetes”, “Camine con Gusto”, “Siembra la Cena” and ”Empoderate”. What she likes best about our “Abuela, Mamá y Yo” nutrition and Food Equity program is that it’s focus on healthy eating, something not always easy to achieve. “It teaches you about serving moderate portions, modifying traditional recipes, and something even more important: breaking bread with family, friends, and your community.” She considers an openness to learning new things as an attribute of the Latino community. However, she adds that “…we need more educational programs that help us promote our health, prevent diseases, and set a good example for our kids.” She also mentions how important traditions are and how proud she is that they are passed down from one generation to the next. She is a model for her children and her community, as well as an inspiration due to her work with us. María would like to share one of her favorite recipes with you. Enjoy!
Multicolor Squash
Ingredients:
3 yellow squash
3 green squash
1 green pepper
1 yellow or orange pepper
1 red pepper
1 finely chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic
Garlic salt
Jalapeño, serrano, or habanero chile
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Procedure:
Chop up onion and garlic. Cut vegetables in julienne strips. Stir fry onion and garlic, add squash and peppers, cook on low heat for seven minutes. Season to taste. Enjoy!
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.
