Breast Cancer Education Awareness

For our multi-state, award-winning initiative, Together We Can Defeat Cancer, (Juntos Podemos Contra El Cáncer), Hispanic Access worked with our pastoral network and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to build a scalable, cost-effective model for changing Latino attitudes on cancer prevention and detection. The project gleaned more than 100 million media impressions and resulted in the provision of education, information and referral, and connection to free screenings for breast and colorectal cancer to more than 59,000 Hispanics in Denver; Yakima, Washington; Chicago; Houston and Rio Grande Valley, Texas; Miami, Florida; and New York City. Besides our church partners, other key partners included AVANZA Supermarkets, public schools, Mexican consulates, hospitals, and local chapters of the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Unidos en Comunidad: COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

Recently, with funding from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, Hispanic Access is providing culturally appropriate information about COVID-19 and vaccinating 40,000 Latinos at nine sites throughout the country. Church partners in Chicago; Denver; Denville, New Jersey; El Paso; Houston; Las Vegas; McAllen, Texas; New London, Connecticut; and Tucson are campaigning in Quechua and Spanish, organizing pop-up vaccination clinics, conducting outreach at community centers and grocery stores, and fighting this deadly disease.

Using our same model of resourcing churches to conduct health programming in their local communities, we have also designed and are currently seeking funding for a scalable, multi-site mental health initiative. We plan to offer the evidence-based Strengthening Families Program to Latino parents and children in 24 locations nationwide. This rigorously tested 14-week curriculum imparts mental health coping skills, improves family relationships, teaches healthy parenting strategies, and helps young people to resist substance use.