We are proud of the service Equilibrium provides for our community, but we recognize that we can’t do everything. This is why we love to support other organizations that fill needs in the community. Familias en Acción is one such group.

Founded in 1998 in response to the need for a culturally specific organization to promote health for Latino/x/e communities in Oregon, Familias en Acción provides a variety of health programs including Community Health Work, Climate Health Equity, Food Equity Advocacy, and HIV/STI's Sexual Health Education.

Promotores de Salud/Community Health Workers

This arm of Familias provides COVID-19 support services as well as food access and health navigation services for Latino/x/e individuals diagnosed with chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes, end-stage renal disease, HIV/STI and cardiovascular disease. They also offer community health education classes on chronic disease management, exercise, growing your own food, diabetes prevention, emotional health and empowering the patient and their family to ask the tough questions when visiting a medical provider.

Me Cuido, Te Cuido: HIV/STIs & Sexual Health

This program engages Latino/x/e communities in Oregon to help identify and implement community-driven solutions that address the impact of HIV in the community. From 2008-2017 the mean rate of new HIV diagnoses in Latino/x/e Oregon residents was nearly twice the rate of new diagnosis among Caucasian groups. Of those diagnosed from 2012-2016, Latino/x/e patients were more likely to progress to meeting the criteria for AIDS within 12 months of testing positive; indicating that, on average, Latino/x/e communities have been infected for a longer time prior to diagnosis.

Familas’s goal is to make a significant impact on decreasing the incidence of HIV infection and transmission of other STIs through community-centered education and a community action plan focused on addressing the needs of the Latinx community locally and around the state.

Abuela, Mamá y Yo: Nutrition & Food Equity

Abuela, Mamá y Yo (AMY) is Familias’s Food Equity and Nutrition program. A Latino/x/e nutritional program to build knowledge about nutrition, epigenetics, and build advocacy skills around the link between food justice, social determinants of health and health equity for families. The Latinx community has the highest rates of obesity and gestational diabetes among Oregon racial and ethnic groups.

Science shows that eating healthy foods can reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases and cancer, but many Latino/x/e communities struggle to access those foods. Familia’s program differs from traditional nutritional programs because it addresses the root causes of health inequities. The curriculum teaches the role of community environment in the availability of nutrition and the level of social stress experienced around pregnancy. Participants build their knowledge about the health impacts of poverty, racial discrimination, social disadvantages, and overall toxic stress on themselves and their children. Self advocacy skills in food justice will build self-sufficiency for participants.

Acción Climática: Climate & Health Equity

“Kinship with the land is never separated from the significance of a community, lover and a child. Indeed, tierra completes the circle-for upon death, we are interred and eventually become one with the Earth.”

- Cherrie Moraga in “Writing the Goodlife: Mexican American Literature and the Environment” by Priscilla Solis Ybarra.

Due to inequitable public policies and racial discrimination, communities of color and poorer communities are disproportionately effected by climate chagne. Familias en Acción is the recent recipient of a grant from the City of Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) to implement a Latino/x/e community plan for climate equity, health equity, and resilience.

Additional Services

Familias en Acción also hosts a peer support group for community members with chronic illness, and telehealth services. Their annual Latino Health Equity Conference provides a forum to focus on individual and community issues and addressing health equity through research, programs, and policies. They also provide online and in-person health professional training with Continuing Education Units.

Donate!

This month, Equilibrium will match in-office financial donations to Familias en Acción to help them continue the good work they do in the community. To volunteer with them, or donate directly, click here.