By Minerva Perez
Getting to big cities is hard for Mexican nationals living and working the California’s Central Valley, but the documents that make everyday life possible are issued by Mexican consulates in Sacramento, Fresno and San Francisco. Enter the Consulado Móvil, which allows the Fresno office of the Mexican Consulate to meet people halfway.
By Brenda Duran
Long Beach City College is developing a program to help the fastest growing population of students – Latinos – succeed in higher education.
By Melissa Flores
Finding a interpreter who speaks Triqui, Mixteco and Zapotec – the indigenous languages of the Oaxacan region of Mexico – can be a challenge. A Salinas hospital is going to train trilingual, low-income women to fill these in-demand positions.
Zara Marselian sits in the top-floor conference room of the recently completed La Maestra Clinics headquarters. One of the few tall buildings in the heart of City Heights, its windows look east to rooftops and mountains, fast food restaurants and the crowded streets of one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the nation. A relentless advocate for immigrants and their impoverished neighbors, Marselian is already plotting the organization’s next steps to support the community she serves with great vigor and compassion. She hasn’t had much time to look out the windows – she sees her community at the street level. “There is so much need here,” Marselian says. “We are here to learn how to make the services work for the people who need them most. This is our community and we serve it best by building our circle of care for the community.”
By Rosa Ramirez
If the doctor ordered you to eat one additional serving of fruits and vegetables each day as a way to improve your health, would you do it? Recently a group of pediatricians, trying to get young children to swap unhealthy foods like fries and burgers for eggplant dishes and quinoa salads, began to take a new approach: they’re giving children a prescription for daily vegetables.
By Jessica Portner
Jamie Oliver’s food truck stops in Long Beach to teach local kids about the benefits of healthy home cooking.
By Robert Fulton
The University of Southern California is located in a low-income area in South L.A. Longtime residents feel pushed out by the big demand for housing created by students and faculty. But the university says it is a good neighbor with programs designed to bring jobs to people who live in South L.A.
Parents trying to cook at home for finicky kids who are constantly exposed to Ronald McDonald, the Colonel and every sugary concoction imaginable are in for a struggle to start with. But cooking healthy? As difficult as that may be, Los Angeles restaurateur Steven Vasquez and his family are on a mission to ease parents’ pain – by coaxing kids themselves to realize the delight in eating healthy, delicious meals that contain fresh ingredients. With little fanfare, the Vasquez family for the last five years have been visiting Los Angeles-area recreation centers and other locations, holding exercise and cooking sessions for kids under the rubric “Cooking With Gabby” – Gabby being Vasquez’ daughter Gabriella.
By Genevieve Bookwalter
Twenty seven percent of Fresno residents worry about where their next meal will come from – that’s the highest food insecurity rate in the nation. Community gardens throughout the city are helping residents with the increasing costs of food.
With California school districts facing $248 million in cuts for school bus services starting this month and obesity rates at epidemic levels, it’s more critical than ever for local leaders to pursue strategies that encourage students to walk or bike to school.