Growing up as a first-generation Latino in historically impoverished Boyle Heights, Juan De La Cruz remembers the times he and his siblings did their best not to get sick. Like many other Latinos in under-resourced neighborhoods, the lack of health insurance meant panic, a memory that fuels his work today. For the last 16 years, De La Cruz has dedicated his life to philanthropy, serving in different capacities with the Los Angeles Unified School District and Young Men’s Christian Association. Today, he manages an $11.3 million budget as president of the Adventist Health White Memorial Charitable Foundation (AHWM), a nonprofit that supports research in the medical field and education. As a leader in philanthropy, De La Cruz is an industry minority, an inequity he hopes to change by spreading awareness and promoting himself.
Category: Equity
Posted inHealth
California lawmakers approve nation-leading $25 minimum wage for health workers, helping Latinos among others
A sweeping agreement between labor and the health industry would gradually raise the minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of health workers in California to a nation-leading $25 an hour while ending a years-long battle over dialysis clinics. State Sen. María Elena Durazo, the Los Angeles Democrat who introduced the bill, called her bill “a first in the nation historic investment in our healthcare workforce.”
Posted inEquity
CALÓ Q&A: Talking Latino wealth with Tonantzin Carmona from Brookings Metro
Carmona is committed to a two-year research stint with the Brookings David M. Rubenstein Fellowship program, studying the topic of wealth inequality. She is among one of the 10 early to mid-career policy professionals accepted for this fellowship. Before working with Brooking Metro, Carmona worked in the realms of public policy, communications, community outreach, politics and philanthropy, which helped make her a standout candidate for the program. CALÓ NEWS recently sat down with Carmona to talk about governmental policies and the work that needs to be done to improve Latino’s wealth.
Posted inEquity
Latino Media Collaborative takes over Sacramento with Latino Media Summit 2023
On August 16th, Latino Media Collaborative (LMC), the parent company behind CALÓ NEWS, hosted its second annual Latino Media Summit in Sacramento. The summit included a variety of distinguished speakers, media experts, journalists, city officials and local representatives.
Posted inEducation
Attorney General files suit against Chino Valley Unified to stop ‘forced outing policy’
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit today against Chino Valley Unified asking the San Bernardino County Superior Court to end a district policy that requires school staff to tell parents if their child asks to be identified by a different gender or name, or accesses a bathroom or program that don’t align with the gender on their official records. Bonta calls the policy discriminatory and dangerous.
Posted inOpinion
COMMENTARY: The importance of lived experiences in environmental justice tools
The Biden-Harris Administration has allocated significant funds into environmental justice efforts, providing an opportunity to change the outcomes of ZIP codes like mine. Through Executive Order 14008, the Council on Environmental Quality Chair introduced the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) to publish maps highlighting disadvantaged communities. Thus, although CEJST recognizes significant burdens in my tract, such as historical underinvestment, traffic pollution ranking in the 99th percentile, and a lack of green space ranking in the 92nd percentile, my census tract in my city Lawndale is not labeled as disadvantaged because it falls slightly below the low-income threshold at 62%. This census tract is also home to majority Latinos.
Posted inHealth
Mami & Me: World Breastfeeding Week
Each year, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) coordinates and organizes World Breastfeeding week.
Amairani Hernandez shares her experience as a first-time mother.
Posted inHealth
Latino community harmed by the underrepresentation of Latina physicians in the U.S.
Despite progress in gender diversity in the medical field, gaps remain for Latina physicians. A new report by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute reveals that Latina physicians in California and the U.S. are severely underrepresented. It has been shown that physicians who speak Spanish are essential to improving Latino healthcare access and addressing […]
Posted inEducation
LAUSD celebrates 10 years of restorative justice, but progress remains uneven
This May, the Los Angeles Unified School District celebrated the 10th anniversary of the School Climate Bill of Rights — a resolution that halted suspensions for willful defiance and brought restorative justice practices into classrooms. Amid the celebrations are lingering questions concerning LAUSD’s implementation of the resolution. Most would acknowledge that while there has been some progress, incorporating restorative justice is far from being realized.
Posted inHealth
Scholars planning to serve in the Safety Net program by L.A. Care Health Plan
Elevating the Safety net program recruits train and retain highly-qualified primary care physicians for the L.A. County safety net. Currently, Los Angeles County is experiencing a physician shortage that threatens the safety net that provides health care to vulnerable and low-income communities.
Posted inUncategorized
As personal medical debt in Los Angeles County tops $2.6 Billion, Latinos and Blacks most harmed
About 810,000, or 1 in 10, Los Angeles County adults together owe more than $2.6 billion in medical debt as of 2021, a new analysis has found — a staggering sum that suggests extending health coverage to more people doesn’t necessarily protect them from burdensome debt. medical debt disproportionately affects the uninsured and underinsured, low-income residents, and Black and Latino populations. It said the consequences are alarming, noting that debt negatively impacts factors that determine future health outcomes, such as housing, employment, food security, and access to prescriptions and health care.
Posted inOpinion
COMMENTARY: U.S. Supreme Court Affirmative Action ban will hurt students of color
The high court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina wipes away decades of SCOTUS precedence upheld even by justices named by Republican presidents. According to a recent report in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, ending affirmative action in admissions to the flagship University of California system “caused underrepresented minority (URM) freshman applicants to cascade to lower-quality colleges” and that a greater number ending up leaving higher education without completing their degree. According to the most recent data, while 53% of high school graduates in California are Latino, just 22% were enrolled in the UC system in 2020.