By Angela Covo La Prensa SAN ANTONIO — Mary Laureana Aguirre Garza tells the story of the singular moment that changed her life forever — the day she called her new best friend in the United Service Organizations (USO),…
Education, General, Nonprofit, Parenting, Women, Youth
Spotlight Non-profit: Con Mi MADRE partners mothers and daughters in preparing for college
LatinaLista — The special relationship that most Latinas have with their mothers is one that isn’t duplicated among other ethnicities. For that reason, a group of Junior League women in 1992 in Austin, Texas knew that when it came…
Children, Environment, Global Views, Linking Latinas, Parenting
Mexico: What about our kids?
By Martha Ramos LatinaLista MEXICO CITY — A couple of days ago, I was talking with a friend about old times. When we were kids, we played on the streets in Chihuahua. Last week, he was at a neighbor’s…
Children, General, Health, Parenting
Protect Tomorrow campaign reminds all parents children need vaccines
LatinaLista — Polio, diptheria, whooping cough, measles. The idea that children can contract and die from any of these diseases, and others, is a foreign concept to most adults today but there was a time when these diseases ravaged…
Children, Environment, General, Health, Online, Parenting, Youth
Latino families need to be vigilant against lead poisoning
LatinaLista — Who worries about lead poisoning these days? Evidently not many people. Otherwise, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) wouldn’t have joined forces with the Ad Council and…
Children, General, Human Rights, Immigration, Palabra Final, Parenting, Politics
Study finds 5 million children of undocumented immigrants put at-risk of entering child welfare system
LatinaLista — One of the major arguments for the immediate necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) is the fact that current policy is separating families. U.S.-born children are left behind when an undocumented parent(s) is/are captured and deported….
Education, General, Health, Nonprofit, Parenting, Women, Youth
Spotlight Non-profit: La Alianza Hispana partners with Greater Boston Latinos to strive, excel and achieve
LatinaLista — Everybody needs to start somewhere. La Alianza Hispana (LAH), Inc. of Greater Boston strives to do that for their local Latino community. Begun in 1968 by Ana Maria Rodriguez, a teacher of English as a second language…
Children, General, Health, Parenting
Latino children less likely to be diagnosed with autism but need for awareness remains strong
LatinaLista — Today may be April 1, otherwise known in the United States as April Fool’s Day, but it’s also the start of a month-long observance of an affliction that is no laughing matter and gaining more attention —…
Children, Environment, General, Health, Nonprofit, Parenting, Youth
Spotlight Non-profit: Casa de los Niños keeps children safe from child abuse
LatinaLista — Child abuse seems to be in the headlines more and more every day. Whether it’s due to parents under stress from a bad economy or the fact that some people have no business being parents, the bottom…
Children, General, Parenting, Youth
Study reveals some Latina mothers unwittingly chart an obese future for their children
LatinaLista — Even before researchers conducted their study on childhood obesity differences among white, black and Latino children, they hypothesized that black and Latino children would have higher rates of obesity-related risk factors in their early years. It wasn’t…
Education, General, Health, Parenting, Women, Youth
When it comes to Latina teen pregnancies, California’s doing something right
LatinaLista Something good is happening in California. For a state more accustomed to bad news — a broke state economy, a slashing of public services, an increase in health premiums by the state’s largest health insurer, rising college tuition…
Books, Children, General, Parenting, Youth
Creating healthy relationships from broken homes
By Jo Ann Hernandez LatinaLista — In Parents Who Cheat: How Children and Adults Are Affected When Their Parents Are Unfaithful, Ana Nogales, Ph.D., combines her experience from her thirty-five years of clinical practice with her current research, which includes…
Children, General, Palabra Final, Parenting, Social Justice, Youth
Just the Facts: The growth of Latino children in foster care system
LatinaLista — The likelihood that a child who goes through the foster care system ends up in jail is high. According to the National Association of Social Workers, 80% of all inmates are former foster children. Couple that sad…
Children, General, Nonprofit, Parenting
Spotlight Non-profit: Finding loving foster care homes for Latino infants and toddlers
LatinaLista The number of Latino children in foster care more than doubled from 6.7 percent of the foster care population in 1982 to 19 percent in 2006, according to a fact sheet published by the Casey Latino Leadership Group….
Books, Culture, General, Parenting, Youth
A mother’s fight to uphold tradition in hopes of preserving the mother-daughter bond
By Jo Ann Hernandez LatinaLista — Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz by Belinda Acosta tells the story of Ana Ruiz, an educated woman and mother of two children who discovered that her husband cheated on her and asked him to…
American Dreams, Faith, General, Parenting, Women
A crowning achievement: Sharing the beauty of family and love with troubled young adults
Winning the title of Mrs. Kentucky International 2010, Elaine Barnes Bateman uses her pageant platform to raise awareness for mentoring and adopting troubled young adults. LatinaLista — To look at Elaine Barnes Bateman, one can easily see how…
Books, Children, General, Parenting
A daughter’s search for the truth about her mother leads her to discover her true self
By Jo Ann Hernandez LatinaLista — What is a person to do when they find out all they believed for all of their life about their family, and especially their mother, is false? So lays the plot for Tell…
Children, General, Palabra Final, Parenting
Child welfare workers too quick to remove Latino children from their families
LatinaLista — No state child protection agency wants a label of “dereliction of duty” hanging over their heads if a child under their supervision turns up abused, or worse, can’t be found as happened in Florida with foster child…
Culture, Education, General, Parenting, Women, Youth
New bilingual initiative combats unintended pregnancies with radio soap drama
LatinaLista — Teenage pregnancy. Unintended pregnancy. The two have become interchangeable to mean the same thing but while teen pregnancy among young Latinas has always been a concern,no one ever thinks unintended pregnancy matters to those women 18-30. Well,…
Books, General, Literature, Parenting
One father’s reconnection with his family proves to be a tortuous exercise
By Jo Ann Hernandez LatinaLista — You know all those stories that end with “They lived happily ever after?” Gringolandia begins after the “ever after.” Lyn Miller-Lachmann researched and wrote a heartfelt story about a man named Marcelo, who…
By Nina Duran Every week I feel that I strug- gle to get Elijah to do his home- work. There are times that I completely forget till 7:30 p.m. and I know that he won’t remind me. Since…
Children, Education, General, Health, Parenting, Youth
Stop Medicine Abuse Month targets teens who want an easy high
LatinaLista — Ever heard of Tussing? What about Skittling? If you haven’t, then you’re way behind any teenager you may know. Both are forms of abusing drugs — over the counter (OTC) drugs like cough medicine. It’s a growing…
Causes, Education, General, Health, Palabra Final, Parenting, Youth
Programs exist to teach students about medically accurate sex education, just not in the schools
LatinaLista — Since this is National Week of Action Focused on Sex Education, we want to stay on this very important topic, especially since several who commented on yesterday’s post, Latinos must use political capital towards demanding passage of…
Children, Education, General, Palabra Final, Parenting, Politics, Women
Latinos must use political capital towards demanding passage of the REAL Act
LatinaLista — In my 17 years of journalism covering issues that impact the Latino community, the saddest stories I’ve covered have had to do with teenage pregnancy. Not for the fact that these young Latinas got pregnant and found…
Education, General, Parenting, Women
City of Laredo, Texas throws a city-wide Breastfeeding Baby Shower
LatinaLista — There has been ongoing debate for years about the merits of breastfeeding. Everything from whether or not it’s beneficial for the baby to the ethics of breastfeeding in public, the topic always stirs passionate debate. Well, it…