Building Healthy Communities for Young Latinos

With your support, National Latino Children’s Institute can improve the lives of Latino children through programs that make a difference in children’s lives. Don’t delay in helping communities build bright futures. Please make a charitable gift while there is still time for a 2009 tax deduction. Donate!

Why make a donation?
Your charitable gift allows the Institute to continue helping build stronger communities through its seven Community Action Initiatives. These initiatives provide organizations with the tools and the training they need to use the principles of the Agenda (The Latino Children’s Agenda is a statement of principles essential for the healthy and complete development of Latino children developed in 1994. It is used as a guide to assure that children’s interests are represented) to generate support for young Latinos’ issues and a blueprint for effecting change on behalf of those who will build the future—the children.

Community Action Initiatives

¡Ay Chispas!
¡Ay Chispas! conveys the importance of fire safety to children and their families. The program, developed in partnership with Nationwide Insurance, highlights the messages that fires are preventable; everyone has to know what to do in case of fire; and everyone can learn what to do. Interactive materials—including an exhibit, storybooks, games, bilingual checklists, and a community organizer’s handbook—help families learn what to do to prevent fires in the home. With support from Nationwide Insurance we have distributed over 50,000 informational packets since 2003 through conferences and special events.

Corazón de mi vida
Utilizing the cultural strengths of the Latino community as the foundation for passenger restraint education, Corazón de mi vida’s bilingual materials remind everyone of the most important reason to make restraint use a lifetime habit—they love their children! The program was funded in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nationwide Insurance, and the Ford Motor Company Fund; through these partnerships to date we have reached over 1.4 million people through conferences, car seat installations, parenting classes and training bilingual certified child passenger safety technicians in over 30 cities.

El Día de los Niños—Celebrating Young Americans
El Día de los Niños, Celebrating Young Americans is a gift from the Latino community to all children. It underscores the tremendous value children have in a community’s life. Over 100 cities work with young people to create parades, book festivals, health fairs, and other special events to promote the well-being of children. Mayors and other leaders join in the celebration by passing resolutions and making public commitments to children. Anyone can celebrate the holiday; however, official sites receive materials and technical assistance from the Institute and become a part of a national network. In 2009, we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of El Día de los Niños.

La Promesa de un Futuro Brillante
Every other year, NLCI selects outstanding community-based programs as exemplary models of “what works” in the Latino community. Nominated by local elected officials and other community leaders, La Promesa programs prove that negative statistics can be turned around when culturally appropriate strategies are used for outreach and services. To date one hundred and eighteen organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico have been selected for this distinction and are promoted as experts. To highlight their work, a CD-Rom describing their programs is published and distributed to policymakers and foundations. The Institute continues to work with the organizations providing technical assistance, training in its programs and linkages to funders and new programs as requested.

Onda Sana
Onda Sana is an initiative designed to help Latino youth take the future into their own hands. It uses cultural messages and novel strategies to help Latino youth and parents discuss “taboo topics,” including sex and sexuality, substance abuse and other behaviors that put youth at risk. This was made possible with a grant from the Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. With this support the Institute was able to develop, train and implement this initiative. Over 450,000 people have received information through conferences, special events and training since 1999.

Salsa, Sabor y Salud
NLCI’s award-winning program Salsa, Sabor y Salud helps Latino families make healthy lifestyle choices for eating and for leading active lifestyles. The bilingual program is designed in-culture using the Latino traditions and values as the foundation for conveying nutrition and physical fitness information. Families learn to make healthy food choices, enjoy being physically active and understand that small steps lead to success. It is currently funded by Kraft Foods and the Aetna Foundation. Since 2003 over 300 facilitators have been trained reaching over 20,000 family members in 14 states.

Words for the Future/Creando el futuro
This initiative provides Latino families and caregivers with strategies and skills to help children develop during the early years. The program’s underlying premise is that a child learns from every experience and interaction, and as first teachers, parents have a unique opportunity to shape their children’s future by providing them with meaningful interactions. This program was developed with a grant from the Meadows Foundation and the Richard Robinson and Helen Benham Trust. Over 500 kits have been distributed to date reaching over 100,000 families. Fifty radio PSAs were developed and ran four times in one year reaching over ½ million listeners each time they ran.

Building healthy communities for Latino children takes a vast marshaling of resources. There is something for everyone to do. We invite you to join us as a partner in helping communities build bright futures. Now is the time to make a charitable contribution and become engaged on behalf of Latino children. Please, take a few moments to make a donation. On behalf of our board, staff and communities we currently work with THANK You for your support.