Latino Leadership, Inc.

Reaching Out To Our People Through Knowledge

Health Matters

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Our Mission:

Health Matters’ mission is to monitor, promote and provide an answer for the need of good health for all Americans, most importantly Central Florida’s growing Hispanic and minority communities. This mission is achieved by offering health care and prevention for the mind, body and soul. The basic premise of a healthy community movement is that well-informed people, working together in an effective process, can make a profound difference in the health and quality of people’s lives within their community.

What is the Latino Leadership’s Health Promoters Program?

Objectives

1) Develop and implement the innovative Health Matters for underserved, ‘high risk’ Latinos that focuses on good health promotion as well as available resources for the screening and treatment of health related issues.

2) Develop and disseminate innovative health educational materials that demonstrate cultural sensitivity through images, language, or other means for underserved and at ‘high risk’ Latinos.

3) Provide training for health care professionals or others serving ‘high risk’ or underserved Latinos on how to incorporate culturally sensitive health education into outreach, education, prevention, and treatment services.

4) Disseminate health education materials to ‘high risk’ and underserved Latinos.

Program Design

The ultimate goal of the Health Matters is to improve the health outcomes of Latinos in Central Florida. This is achieved through using lay community members as health promoters. The Health Matters Health Promoter training is a six-week comprehensive training. The training is divided into sessions that cover various topics associated with health risks and emphasizes prevention. Each seminar is a three hour commitment with lectures, independent and group study, and group discussions. Topics include, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, healthy eating habits, physical activity, breast cancer, nutrition, among others.

Participants will have direct participation in all activities and be considered for graduation only when the candidate designs a portfolio on lessons learned and curriculum design for future program use.

Latino Leadership’s Health Promoters are part of an overall health initiative to supply the community with important and useful information on diverse health issues and best practices to help create healthier lifestyles. This peer-to-peer model is based on studies of successful approaches for outreach. Research has proved that direct intervention by educated and trained lay people is one of the best strategies for behavioral change and learning.

Partners & Affiliations

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LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS:

LULAC is the largest and oldest Hispanic Organization in the United States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide. The organization involves and serves all Hispanic nationality groups.

Historically, LULAC has focused heavily on education, civil rights, and employment for Hispanics. LULAC councils provide more than a million dollars in scholarships to Hispanic students each year, conduct citizenship and voter registration drives, develop low income housing units, conduct youth leadership training programs, and seek to empower the Hispanic community at the local, state and national level.

In addition, the LULAC National Educational Service Centers, LULAC’s educational arm, provides counseling services to more than 18,000 Hispanic students per year at sixteen regional centers. SER Jobs for Progress, LULAC’s employment arm, provides job skills and literacy training to the Hispanic community through more than forty-eight employment training centers located throughout the United States. The LULAC Corporate Alliance, an advisory board of Fortune 500 companies, fosters stronger partnerships between Corporate America and the Hispanic community.

Learn more about LULAC…

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR LATINO COMMUNITY ASSET BUILDERS:

The National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) represents and serves a geographically and ethnically diverse group of non-profit community development and asset building organizations that are anchor institutions in our nation’s Latino communities. NALCAB members are experts in implementing responsible, market-based strategies for creating jobs, developing neighborhood assets and building family wealth. They include affordable housing developers, microlenders, economic development corporations and consumer counseling agencies.

NALCAB’s mission is to build financial and real estate assets as well as human and technology resources in Latino families, communities and organizations. NALCAB achieves this mission by supporting the work of its members.

Learn more about NALCAB…

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA:

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) – the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States – works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations (Latino Leadership included), NCLR reaches millions of Hispanics each year in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. To achieve its mission, NCLR conducts applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy, providing a Latino perspective in five key areas – assets/investments, civil rights/immigration, education, employment and economic status, and health. In addition, it provides capacity-building assistance to its Affiliates who work at the state and local level to advance opportunities for individuals and families.

Founded in 1968, NCLR is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization headquartered in Washington, DC. NCLR serves all Hispanic subgroups in all regions of the country and has operations in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Learn more about NCLR…

NATIONAL HISPANIC COUNCIL ON AGING:

The National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA) is the nation’s premier constituency-based organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for the Hispanic/Latino elderly, their families, and their communities. Now in its 28th year, NHCOA represents a network of 42 community-based organizations across the continental U.S., the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. NHCOA also maintains a broader network of 7,000 individuals and reaches 10 million Hispanics each year through its work and that of its affiliates.

NHCOA focuses on the following program priorities: health promotion and disease prevention, financial security and civic engagement, policy, leadership development, education and housing. Its policy priorities include addressing health disparities, promoting economic security, ensuring availability of affordable and elder accessible housing, and building stronger and more cohesive communities through provision of technical support and financial assistance to community-based organizations serving Hispanic older adults.

NHCOA operates on both a local and national level, working with its network of community-based organizations locally and implementing advocacy on behalf of its broader constituency of Latino elderly on a national level. Specifically, on the local level, NHCOA provides community-based organizations with training, technical assistance, sub-grants, and access to the latest research and best results-producing programs. NHCOA also helps local groups form partnerships and coalitions that enhance their resources, influence, and ability to extend their reach. On the national level, the Washington, D.C.-based NHCOA educates legislators on the aging community’s needs and contributions, and helps craft permanent solutions to the problems that compromise the security, health, happiness, and dignity of America’s fastest-growing senior population.

NHCOA is an expert in developing interventions based on research and building on work already done by elder-and Hispanic-serving organizations and agencies. The organization follows a proven approach. First, NHCOA conducts original research when needed or draws on professional studies to design effective community interventions. It then implements a needs assessment for participating community-based organizations and provides needed technical assistance and training to prepare the organization to implement the intervention. NHCOA uses program components that have been shown to be effective. For example, NHCOA is known for its use of community health educators or promotores in its health education and promotion programs. Promotores have been shown to be highly effective with hard-to-reach Hispanic populations, such as the aging population. NHCOA is also known for its dedication to implementing interventions in an age-sensitive, linguistic- and culturally-appropriate manner.

Learn more about NHCOA…