cc  >> This is a course that is  offered through the  University of Wisconsin School  of Human Ecology.  As we begin I'd like to extend  thanks to our partners in  supporting this course; the UW  office of Corporate Relations,  the UW School of Engineering for  their technical support, and  financial support provided by  the Marian Kauffman foundation,  which is committed to advancing  academic education and  entrepreneurialism.  Additionally, we thank our media  partners, WPT and their  University Place crew for taping  today's lecture.  I am quite pleased to introduce  our guest today, she is Brenda  Gonzalez, deputy director of the  Robert Woods Johnson New Routes  to Community Health Initiative.  New Routes is a national  initiative designed to improve  immigrants' health, work life,  and civic participation by  supporting local partnerships  among immigrant organizations,  media production centers, and  established community  institutions.  Before joining the Robert Woods  Johnson Foundation, Brenda  served as the manager of  Interpreter Services and  Cultural Outreach at Dean Health  Systems for seven years, where I  had the privilege of hiring  Brenda and working with her at  that time.  She became widely known there  for her nationally acknowledged  expertise in delivering cultural  and linguistic services within  health care delivery systems.  AT Dean she supervised staff and  contract interpreters who  collectively spoke and  interpreted more than 35  different languages.  She's active in advancing state  and national standards for  medical interpreters through her  work on the Wisconsin Coalition  for Linguistics Access to Health  Care and the National Council on  Interpreting in Health Care.  She serves on the City of  Madison Affirmative Action  Commission and she's been an  active member of the Latino  Health Council of Wisconsin. 

 Brenda was raised in Mexico  City, she holds a bachelor's  degree in social psychology.  And I have asked her to share  the entrepreneurial initiative  called New Routes to Community  Health so we can understand the  role that foundations play in  these initiatives.  Please join me in welcoming  Brenda Gonzalez.  (Spanish)  I'm sorry but I thought that  Jeanan invited me to speak  to Spanish speakers  that were interested in  entrepreneurialship and the  immigrant community.  So that's not the case, huh?  My name is Brenda Gonzalez, I am  the deputy director of a new  initiative called New Routes to  Community Health.  It is a project of the Bantam  Foundation, funded by the Robert  Woods Johnson foundation.  The national program office is  actually here in Madison, it's  where I work, called --  Associates, a small business.  Before I start my presentation,  I would like to ask you a few  questions.  How many of you speak Spanish?  A little bit.  Another language?  Bilingual, trilingual?  That's usually the case in these  presentations that I do around  Wisconsin. 

 I find a few people who are  bilingual, maybe Spanish another  language, but again, before I  start my presentation and the  content of what I want to share  to day, I want to ask you, how  did you feel going through what  we went through?  When I was going on and on in  Spanish.  Was it comfortable?  What you were thinking?  "She's in the wrong class."  What else?  >> I was just thinking that I  think a lot of us who have had a  little bit of Spanish are just  trying to pick out certain words  and phrases to get the gist of  the message.  Brenda: Absolutely, and I think  that's a lot of the time what  happens.  When you have someone that is  talking to you, either in  another language, or with a  little bit of an accent, you  really try to pay attention.  Certainly we start with a smile,  I saw a lot of "I think I know  what she's saying, but I'm not  quite sure" Not only that but  then you should confess if you  see that there are other people  in the room that seem to be  understanding, would you confess  that "I might not be  understanding what she's  saying?"  Or would you confess "Hm, I  don't understand why she's  speaking another language, I  mean we speak English in this  country."  How many of you have heard	that? It's something that's  being felt, we're in a situation  sometimes very difficult, where  you are being put on the spot,  and you think you are supposed  to understand something, you  think you need to understand  something, so I want you to keep  that feeling, whatever it is  that you were feeling, from one  spectrum to the other, maybe  that you want to pay attention,  you want to help out, but maybe  others might not be so patient.  So I want you to remember that  feeling as I go through this  presentation.  I would like to take about 45  minutes to an hour to share with  you what some of the groups in  New Routes are doing.  It is really a story that I want  to tell you of eight groups that  are doing great work across the  nation.  I'm going to leave some time to  invite all of you to share you  thoughts, questions, and  concerns.  Also, I'll ask you to be patient  as I'm trying to navigate with  the PowerPoint and the Internet. 

 I want to share with you some of  the videos that these groups  have made so I'm going to go  back and forth between the  actual presentation and the  Internet.  The model that I want to share  with you today is called New  Routes to Community Health which  is a group for improving the  health of immigrants through  immigrant created media.  Eight diverse immigrant-led  collaborations across the United  States have received three  grants from New Routes to create  locally-focused media and  outreach companies that speak  directly to immigrants' health  concerns.  So we thought it was very  important not only to create a  program and say, to each  particular group, "Here is  something I think is important  for you" - let's say diabetes -  "and we want to use these  brochures.  So we want you to read the  information so you can have a  better health.  " We very soon realized that  that's not the way to go.  That certainly we want to make  sure that groups are involved in  the creation of all these media.  But I want to give you a little  bit of background.  Not all of these thoughts of,  let's give these resources to a  group of individuals to create  their own media to better their  community, just happened  overnight.  Over the past ten years, two  foundations, the Bantam  Foundation and the Robert Woods  Johnson Foundation, and my  business, the national office,  coordinate a program called  Sound Partners for Community  Health. 

 And the goal was to create  awareness of specific health  issues and facilitate citizen  involvement in making decisions  affecting their healthcare.  So we wanted to make sure that  they were creating informational  spots for ads, for a particular  community, vulnerable population  community.  It is by fostering partnerships  with public broadcasters,  community organizations, and  additional community entities,  so we wanted to make sure that  the connection between the  broadcasters and the community  organizations - which is not a  very easy link to do - were  communicating with each other to  really create good content to  provide to the community.  They believe that by using a  range of programming and  community engagement supported  by Sound Partners was going to  help equip individuals to  participate in community  problem-solving and local health  issues.  So if you feel a lot of local,  individual - we wanted to make  it, during those ten years, we  knew that by going local we were  going to be able to reach in a  more profound way.  Sound Partners Community Health  provided 148 grants; that's  about 5.  4 million dollar initiative.  To support community and media  collaborations focus on health  care issues across the United  States.  So it was any health issue that  particular community had, to  bring it up between broadcasters  and community organizations, and  request a grant to support their  initiatives.  Again, 148 small grants were  created to provide a radio  program, for example, that was  one of the initiatives. 

 The majority of the projects  work with the health and social  needs of vulnerable populations.  Very targeted, populations that  needed specific help, or had  specific issues or needs.  Through that time, 2004-2005,  Sounds Partners grantees talked  in more detail about how health  care issues are compounded by  the inability to speak English,  prejudice, and cultural  differences.  Difficulties occurring:  decent-paying jobs, and health  and safety and educational  issues.  So all of a sudden it was not  just a general topic that they  were addressing, diabetes in a  small community in Chicago, for  example, but also they were  looking at how the community's  changing, and how the face of  the community's changing.  And actually, I want to ask you,  do you see your community  changing?  Are you all from Wisconsin?  No?  What other places?  New York?  Well, New York changed a long  time ago!  Michigan, St.  Louis.  Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay,  Janesville.  So do you see your communities  changing?  Raise your hands if you have.  And in what ways?  What are the first things you  see happening in your  communities?  New restaurants; more diversity  - people from different parts of  the world?  That definitely seems like the  world is getting smaller. 

 Certainly it is easier to  travel, and there's new  communities that are  establishing for the same  reasons that our parents',  grandparents' immigrant groups  came to this country, or  specifically here in Wisconsin.  Um, so it is very true, I think  that's what was happening.  IN 2004-2005, the grantees were  sharing this across the United  States, saying, "We're doing  great, but here's why: In our  community, we have these  particular groups that have  certain issues with linguistic  access, for example, we need  more interpreters, we don't know  how to address that issue.  " So they had a particular  health need with a different  community that they didn't know  how to approach.  So in January 2006, when the  managing group, the National  Program Office, which is us, a  group of foundations and small  business, talked about the next  steps and what we needed to have  with the next grant, talked  about what can we do.  They were convinced that the  focus needed to be more  specific.  Based on the National Program  Office, the supporting  foundations, they decided to  focus their efforts on  immigrants' and refugees' needs.  I understand and know that the  political environment that we  live in certainly goes both ways  in terms of immigration.  I'm sure that you all might be  on one side or the other of a  particular issues; right now,  during this presentation we're  not going to address those  issues, this is something that  the foundation is doing,  supporting immigrants, and  again, I know that there might  be some questions and we can  address that at the end.  But this particular presentation  does not address any of the  questions or difficulties that  are in our political  environment. 

 They certainly could not have  imagined what was about to  happen in this country back in  2006.  A few months later, hundreds of  thousands of immigrants in the  towns and cities across America,  we saw massive May Day  celebrations.  I don't know if you remember,  but in May and actually March  before that the number of  marches supporting immigrants.  In April and May of 2006, the  Bantam Foundation, which is the  organization that is sponsoring  this initiative, along with the  Community Round Table.  They wanted to hear a little bit  more from the community.  They had heard from the grantees  and what they wanted to do, but  they wanted to hear from experts  in different communities.  They had Round Tables in  Chicago, Portland, Boston, and  the Twin Cities.  The Round Tables actually saw  critical perspectives on  effective and emerging practices  in community media, and explore  how communities are adapting  media technologies to social,  economic, educational, cultural,  and informational services for  their residents.  So how are they using different  media, so community radio,  public television, and also the  new social media.  The participants concluded that  the foreign-language media,  commercial and non-commercial,  are at the forefront of  immigrants' new level of civic  participation and that was very  obviously. 

 For instance, the Spanish media  issued a rally cry that took to  the streets more than 500,000  people in Los Angeles, only in  Los Angeles, and hundreds of  thousands more in other cities  during the first protest held in  March.  So, if you remember, in many of  the major cities, there were  rallies around immigration.  So at the Round Tables they also  found examples of web-based  community media that aggregated  and distributed news from home  countries.  So for example the immigrants  who are here in this country are  also seeking information from  back home.  So we are very in-tune with some  of the media outlets, either  web-based or TV that are  connected to our countries.  We often think, well, we don't  have immigrant groups because of  their economic level or  difficulties accessing certain  information, they might not have  information about what's  happening at home.  And you would be surprised, in  some very particular groups -  the ones that I've seen  directly, Somalis in the Twin  Cities, for example - they're  very connected to what's  happening in their home  countries.  So we were asked, why do we  focus on immigrant health?  As we already shared, just over  1 million immigrants and  refugees arrive on a regular  basis to the United States.  New immigrants now make up 12.5  percent of the total US  population.  Approximately 2/3 of the  population growth between 1990  and 2000, and that's according  to the US census. 

 We know differently, because of  previous work that showed the  number of services we were  providing, interpreter services  for example, we know that they  are under-counted, some of these  immigrant and refugee  populations.  So we knew that we had to do  something not only to help  vulnerable populations in  general, but immigrant and  refugee groups.  We know that programs that  promote the health and  well-being of immigrants are  essential to helping immigrants  to self-sufficiency and become  valued members of their  communities, neighborhoods,  towns and cities.  I think it is important to have  a program that is immigrant  integration.  Many immigrants are employed in  low-wage jobs unlikely to offer  health benefits.  That's just some of the  characteristics of immigrant  groups, limited knowledge of  language that might be a  barrier, and other barriers that  even prevent them from seeking  care; some of the groups are  more vulnerable than others, but  there's a fear related to the  legal status of the United  States.  We know that immigrants continue  to play an important social,  economic, cultural role in  the US.  Receiving communities, the  well-established community in  their area, immigrants must work  together to promote healthy,  vibrant communities.  This is the only way that a  community could be healthy,  completely healthy.  I always think about a community  that's not healthy as a body. 

 If you are hurting, if your hand  or legs hurt, there's something  that is not okay, and you always  think about that part of your  body that is not working, so  you're not 100 percent healthy,  and I think that's what happens  to communities when we don't  have all of the members of the  communities being healthy and  helping each other.  We do see this two-way street  between the immigrant community  and the receiving community to  be an important link to be  healthy overall community.  Over the past decade, receiving  communities have modeled a wide  range of programs, that's  really, they could create many  healthcare institutions create a  program to benefit a particular  community.  Again, we have seen that  doesn't quite work when you're  not involving the community in  the process.  So there needs to be an  integration between the two  communities to really work  together in some of these  programs.  So our project needs to foster  more collaborative,  community-building programs  using the media as a tool.  So you would ask, why the media,  why is that so important?  Have you been touched by a  first-voiced story?  So, instead of showing you all  kinds of statistics, all kinds  of information about a  particular issue, do you learn  more from that or do you learn  more from someone your own age,  your own community that shares  what she or he is going through  related to that particular  topic?  So a lot of information, or a  story, a compelling story that  tells you the same information  but in a way that touches you?  IN a way that inspires us to do  something, or to create your own  story, even.  I think that you are more  familiar with what I'm talking  about than you think.  Do you have facebook?  Don't lie to me (laughs), I'll  find you, I have facebook!  Do you tell your own story on  facebook?  You tell your own story.  And why we want to see what  you're doing is because it's  compelling, it's the way that  people tell stories is a way of  creating or inspiring us, either  not to do something or to do  something, I know facebook is  either way. 

 But I think it's the same way,  when you tell your own story.  So that's why we focus on  first-voice media and other  types of media.  The real two-way communication  is at the root of understanding  problem-solving and empowerment.  And once you tell your own  story, once a group tells its  own story, you really start  talking about empowerment.  The ability to tell the story  from a first-voice perspective  is very powerful, and again, I  think that's why we go back to  facebook and youtube and all the  other social media.  Because it really is a way of  telling real stories that are  not just a lot of information  that at one point or another you  tuned out.  Focus groups were actually  conducted during 2004-2005, the  beginning of the Sound Partners  initiative, before New Routes  started, looked at ways to  improve immigrant health  outcomes.  They interviewed immigrants and  service providers about issues  related to health care,  education, legal rights,  employment, and housing.  The participants confirmed that  the knowledge of resources  available to them was minimal.  We know there are a lot of  resources out there, but we are  not able to access them. 

 Service providers also showed  frustration in being able to  reach the immigrant community,  so it's very interesting, you  have two groups that want to  talk to each other, but they  don't know how to really  communicate, to do it.  So let me ask you, given what  you already know of cultural and  ethnic groups, thinking maybe of  your own group, your own  community, how would you get  health information?  How do you think people get  health information?  Where do you get it?  Internet, yes, what else?  Yes.  Your parents, so tell me, right  away, something is happening,  you think, "I can only trust my  family.  " Is there any other group that  you trust other than you  parents?  Friends, absolutely.  There might be some issues that  you don't want to talk to your  parents about, you want to talk  to the peer that is going  through the same.  Anything else?  Your doctor, yes, I think once  you have a connection with your  doctor, you certainly seek  information that way.  Different groups access  information in different ways,  although, also, it seems like  even though we have access to  resources, we have access to  doctors, we have access to the  internet, still we go back to  our parents.  I had been sick for a while, and  I'm over 30 years old, and I  still call my mom to ask for the  recipe for a kind of soup or  something that is warm and  reminds me of home.  And right away she says, do you  have a vaporizer, do you have  this, do you have that?  All that information that we  hear and it's sometimes very  annoying.  But it's different when we hear  it from the peer group or our  families. 

 So the focus groups that create  information that can help  immigrants adjust to their new  communities.  Imagine what you felt when I was  starting to speak in Spanish,  and I was going off a little too  long, imagine that you're in a  different country, that you have  that feeling of not being able  to communicate with someone.  Not with your doctor when you're  sick.  Have you had that happen to you  in your travels?  No?  Gotten sick?  Yes, what happened?  Can you share?  (Audience member speaking) But  it was not too scary, you were  not in a hospital - but still  frustrating.  You were walking around, looking  for a particular medicine that  you couldn't find, you asked the  pharmacist but--  the medical terminology.  So you used the language  knowledge that you had and tried  to come up with words to  communicate.  Anyone else have an experience  like that?  In a place where you couldn't  communicate?  (Audience member speaking)  I think you brought up a very  good point - trust.  Do we trust?  I think that's why I go back to  why you talk to your family, you  talk to your peers.  I think that's important, the  focus group revealed that, that  family and friends in language  media, stories and personal  connections, religious leaders,  those actually are the people  that these focus group members  said they heard information  from.  They are a trusted source of  information. 

 So that's how New Routes  Community Health was created.  The goal of New Routes is to  improve the lives of new  immigrants through media created  for and by immigrants.  It was so important to not just  say, "we have a program that you  can use, and translate," but to  actually have immigrants being a  part of this process.  So New Routes is a new approach  to improving the health of  immigrants in the United States  through immigrant-created media.  New Routes has provided grants  to eight groups, immigrant-led  collaboration across the United  States.  Media includes television, radio  features, tele-novellas, anyone  familiar with tele-novellas,  they are the soap operas.  To provide information about  treating mental health issues,  in the Boston patient community,  for example, social marketing  campaigns to improve the working  conditions of domestic workers  in San Francisco, and  instructive DVDs to help Chinese  elders navigate the healthcare  system in Los Angeles.  I'll show you a little bit of  what they're doing.  So we have groups in Atlanta,  Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,  Twin Cities, Oakland,  Philadelphia, and San Francisco.  The New Routes model,  partnerships bringing together  media-makers, immigrant  organizations, and community  institutions. 

 So we have three organizations  that are coming together to work  together.  And let me show you what we have  on our website.  The New Routes website is an  online community for those  committed to work on improving  the lives of immigrants by using  media.  The website highlights best  practices, offers a showcase for  locally created  immigrant-related media, and is  used to help build the capacity  of partners.  So these three collaboratives,  immigrant organization, media  center, and general community  organizations come together.  So you have as the managing  partner, as we call it, the  established organization in the  community, much like United Way  or public health departments.  And actually many of the eight  groups have universities as part  of the managing group.  Also we have media centers,  which are from public television  to community media.  And the immigrant organizations  are the ones actually leading  the project, and they are the  ones that are bringing the  connection to the particular  communities.  We have Somalis, we have  Latinos, we have Haitians,  Southeast Asian, Chinese. 

 So this is what we have in terms  of our website.  We have a featured grantee, one  of the eight grantees will  always be on the front page,  showcasing what they're doing,  and we have six months of  creating, planning the project,  and now they're about six months  into the developing of the  program.  What you see there is a  Somali-led group, and we'll talk  more about that.  But first I want to show you the  first group, a Chicago-based  group, which is called "Salud,"  health, and is Healing for the  Arts.  And it is grounded in the idea  that art can foster meaningful  dialogue and cultivate strong  connections among diverse groups  of individuals.  The project builds young  community leaders by offering a  space of personal expression  while encouraging exploration of  connections between immigration  and health issues.  So you have these people, young  youth in the Pilson area, mostly  Mexican-American community, to  make sure that they are  understanding the issues that  come between immigration,  immigration status, and health.  And also making sure that they  take that information to the  receiving communities.  So now Salud is producing  programming that engages a  mostly Latino immigrant youth  population.  Partners are creating a series  of theater productions and radio  programming that is helping the  community make better health  decisions. 

 The partnership will use our  programming that addresses the  breakdown of cultural health  myths that impede access to  services and resources that  foster healthier lives.  Tele-novellas will be turned  into educational curriculum.  Salud will design and deliver  their curriculum knowing that  peer-to-peer communication is  more effective.  Again, groups are going back to  the idea that, if you have the  same person telling you the  importance of what you want to  learn, the message is better  received.  The theater production will be  traveling to colleges and high  schools, and actually they're  doing that as we speak.  So youth is taking what they  have produced to talk to other  people, to use that as a tool  for engaging the community.  And let me show you a little bit  of a taste of a tele-novella.  This is a story of Sophia, and  immigrant mother from Mexico,  who takes care of everyone else  except herself, and this is  according to what they have  created.  Again, the groups created the  scripts and did the voiceover  for the tele-novella.  Her particular concern is her  son Juanito, who is a teenager  on the soccer team. 

 He is figuring out what he wants  to do in his life, with his  friends, and he has a crush.  We're now going to hear that  part of the tele-novella because  it's a little bit long for what  I want to show you today, but  what he doesn't know is that his  priorities may soon change as he  learns that Sophia, the mother,  needs more medical care than  anyone had anticipated.  So I'm gonna let you hear the  very beginning and the very end  of the tele-novella.  Remember, these are groups of  teenagers, youth that came  together, they interviewed  themselves, families, and  experts in health to make sure  that they had all the  appropriate ingredients for this  tele-novella, so they can show  it to people, talk about the  issues, and also talk about the  resources.  So I'm going to let you just  hear.  >> Sophia, it's good to see you.  >>I know, Doctor, how have you  been.  I came for my medical checkup  since they've been asking for  one at work.  >> They're asking for it?  Why is that?  >> You know, rules at work.  >> Are you sure?  Tell me the truth. 

 I know you very well.  >> Well, the truth is that I  haven't been feeling well  lately.  Yesterday I almost fainted at  work, so they sent me back home,  demanding not to return without  a medical exam.  >> But Sophia, you almost  fainted!  I told you to show up to your  appointments, and the majority  of the time you miss.  It's been around six months and  no sign of you.  If you don't make the effort to  take care of yourself, no one  else is going to do it for you.  Tell me, how have you been  feeling lately?  >> Like I said, I haven't been  feeling well.  I admit to it, but I just don't  have any time for my checkups.  I have my son Juanito to take  care of, and a job to maintain.  >> Exactly. 

 Let me see your arm.  As I was saying, you have your  son Juanito, and although he's a  mature teenager, you know he  needs you.  >> I know, but ever since my  husband died, I've been noticing  that Juanito has become a lot  more independent and in reality,  doesn't need me.  >> Sophia, what are you  thinking?  A son always needs his mother to  take care of him, no matter  what.  By the way, your blood  pressure's very low.  Well, that's all for now,  Sophia.  I want you back in one week, and  no excuses.  >> I will, Doctor.  Well, on second thought, can you  send my results straight to my  house?  >> Sure.  Say hi to Juanito for me. 

 >> I want to go to that doctor.  You know, he's actually talking  to the patient.  So for course, this is youth  creating their own story,  whatever they understood from  the issue of the mother  interviewed.  They interviewed their own  families and came up with this  story.  So it's interesting that they  say he's a "very mature  teenager," you know they are  teenagers putting those words  there.  Um, so let me show you what  happens at the end.  During the rest of the  tele-novella, there's Juanito  talking, his own issues, he was  born here, but he's connecting  with other kids in the soccer  league, and he also has a crush  on this young woman.  It tells a little of the story  of what he goes through as a  typical teenager in the United  States.  >> Please have a seat.  Juan, I have known both you and  your mother for a very long  time. 

 And I sympathize with what  you're going through.  It's not easy for me to tell you  what I'm about to say.  >> What's wrong, Doctor?  Tell us, we've been waiting for  hours.  >> Look, I've been reading over  the  medical results word by word.  I've come to understand that  your mother has been diagnosed  with breast cancer.  And on top of that, she is  showing signs of diabetes.  >> No, that's a lie!  Please tell my mom, I don't want  her to die, she's all I have!  >> Juan, please don't be so  negative.  Don't say those things.  Now more than ever you need to  be so strong.  >> That's true. 

 Because the cancer is so strong,  the best thing to do is to  amputate her right breast.  And start a drastic diet to take  care of the diabetes.  Later on I can explain the  therapies and medications she  will need.  >> Is my mom all right, though?  >> She's unconscious.  When she wakes up, though, you  can update her on the situation.  If you can't do it, I'll tell  her myself.  >> Juanito has been led to take  care of his ill mother, making  him a lot more mature and  responsible.  In the meantime, Juanito has  been working with friends and  neighbors on preventative health  to avoid a situation like  Sophia's.  But what is the price you are  willing to pay?  Healing Through the Arts.  >> What do you guys think?  They are between 12 and 15. 

 Pretty powerful stuff.  They have five tele-novellas,  surrounding the different health  issues.  There's one of teenagers talking  to their parents about coming  out, gay and lesbian issues.  There's others talking about  domestic violence.  So pretty powerful topics that  they have chosen to research,  interview, and talk about.  And again, coming together to  create the actual drama, and  then producing the tele-novella,  with whatever training they have  gotten through the summer.  This just happened this past  summer.  >> So the  interesting thing about this  particular example is that it  starts to marry the concept of  arts with health information  with youth organizing, which we  haven't spent any time talking  about this semester, although I  know that the class is going to  delve into that next semester.  They've learned something by  virtue of how they can express  information in a new way,  specifically for them.  Do they have an outlet for being  able to present it?  >> Correct. 

 So now what they're going to do  with the content, have  programming in the radio station  that is connected to their  Mexican museum; these are the  organizations that are coming  together - the Museum of Mexican  Art, the radio station that is  connected, and then a group that  is providing legal advice and  lawyers to immigrants, in  particular Spanish speakers.  So these three groups come  together and the way that  they're using it, the  tele-novellas are going to be  part of the radio station, with  a call-in show, so after the  show there's going to be  presenters, the youth that  actually created this and also  health experts.  So when they call they can talk  about the real issue, the  resources, and whatever else  they have in mind.  The theater, they're actually  going to universities, high  schools, to present it in  community forms, and after the  presentations, they have the  community engage in a dialogue  about the presentation.  And I was in one of them, and it  was extremely powerful, 300  people in the room, all stayed  asking questions, and it was an  amazing, amazing experience.  And again, talking about issues  that by yourself as a teenager  you can not really talk about at  home, because of cultural  barriers - your life in this new  country versus the life of your  parents in their old country.  Just very quickly, I want to  show you a little bit of what  the Los Angeles group, that is  called "Navigating Healthcare in  the U.S.  for Chinese Seniors" is  doing.  This project has developed  television news segments and  instructional DVDs to help  seniors overcome cultural  language and navigational  barriers and communicate more  effectively with their adult  children caretakers and  healthcare providers.  Usually we think about the  community not being able to  communicate with the healthcare  provider, but also within the  family, in the gap that exists  between the immigrants and their  children, they might be able to  communicate in terms of language  but not really in terms of  culture. 

 Let me show you what the focus  groups, a little bit of what  they're saying there.  >> The New Routes Los  Angeles team held it's first  focus group on Wednesday,  February 27, 2008 at the  Monterey Park offices of the  Chinatown Services Center.  All the participants were either  seniors or senior caregivers.  And in this particular session,  all were Cantonese speakers.  The group met for about 1.  5 hours and spoke about what  kind of healthcare issues were  important to older Chinese, as  well as what kind of barriers  they faced when getting  healthcare.  In addition, they were given a  list of potential issues and  asked to rank the importance of  each.  Some of the concerns that arose  were language barriers that  occur between the caregiver and  the patient, or that occur even  when handling simple tasks such  as making an appointment.  The confusing nature of  healthcare insurance and  reimbursements; the challenge of  determining who might be a good  doctor, the long waits faced by  patients.  And how to persuade seniors to  eat in a healthier manner. 

 This was the first of 4-6 focus  groups, and future focus groups  will include Mandarin speakers  as well as healthcare providers.  >> So they're  bringing together all the  different groups to make a good  message.  They are going to be senior  Chinese acting and creating the  vignettes for other, newly  arrived or more isolated  seniors.  We believe that that's going to  be a lot more powerful and will  create a change in the  community, versus having an  external force, organization or  providers make it.  The other idea is that other  than only saying, "We're going  to empower the community, we're  going to empower the Chinese  seniors to actually speak more  directly to the provider or to  their adult children," do you  think that's enough?  It's a good thought, we all want  to be empowered to change.  But just by having that as a  goal is not enough.  We have to create ways for truly  addressing the issue.  Many of the Chinese young adults  were saying, I would never  convince my parents to do this  or that.  Culturally, it's just  impossible.  So we have to incorporate those  ideas and cultural ideas into  what we believe will create  change. 

 In Oakland, Opening Boxes, this  project will develop media aimed  at intimate partner violence  within the Latin American  immigrant population in the --  neighborhood.  It is interesting to keep in  mind that it is, again, very  focused, one particular group in  a very particular neighborhood  or community.  We went from "Let's create this  national program" into focusing  on something that just happens  locally.  We truly believe that  replicating these types of local  projects will make the  difference.  Opening Boxes is to reduce  incidents of domestic violence  among the population of Latin  American immigrants in this  area.  Men and women of this community  will share their experiences  with their families and the  general public by creating  digital stories.  Their own stories.  The digital stories will take  family members through a  progression of self-expression,  peer sharing, and family healing  to community empowerment and  change.  So, this process is not just  creating something and saying,  "Hey, you can use these tools  and you can be empowered and you  can change the system," but it's  actually teaching them or  assisting them in creating their  own story and being able to  present them and talk about the  experience they went through.  That we believe creates real  change. 

 The stories will be used in  different community settings and  also on the web.  We were a little hesitant about  using this particular content  because you are really sharing  the stories of real people that  are going through domestic  violence and what happens to  them, so we have to be very  careful about how to use this  content.  And we talk a lot with the  project to make sure that they  have systems in place to make  sure that they provide safety  for those individuals.  From what I understand it has  been very powerful and they have  been filming the process so  hopefully next year, if you  invite me, I will be able to  show you a documentary about  this particular project that I  think is going to be very  powerful.  In the bay area in San Francisco  - and the good part about this  is that I get to travel to these  places during the winter.  In this project, domestic worker  advocates will help to develop a  social marketing campaign  advocating healthcare, working  conditions for domestic workers.  It was very interesting to have  this project because we thought,  again, that the community that  we were targeting were the  domestic workers.  And in reality we have two  target groups: the domestic  workers and also the employers.  The group of employers that are  actually hiring these domestic  workers.  The Domestic Workers Safety and  Dignity Project will address the  work life of immigrant Latina  domestic workers with a vision  of transforming the conditions  within and the perceptions of  the industry from undervalued  women's work to a respectable  component of the economy. 

 This is very interesting because  the employers don't see  themselves as employers, and  they really don't see how that  is affecting the domestic  workers and how they really want  to be valued, more than the  struggle with the low wages and  other working conditions.  Through a San Francisco-based  media and marketing campaign the  partners will educate and engage  workers in addressing working  conditions, strengthen domestic  worker organizations through  leadership development, and  change the perception of  domestic work.  If you haven't seen a  documentary called "Made in LA"  I would highly recommend it.  It talks about a lot of these  issues.  Hopefully we'll have a similar  story in the near future.  One of the groups that we have  highlighted is actually Stories  of Somali Health.  This is such an interesting  project, one of my favorites, in  the Twin Cities.  Can we edit that part that is my  favorite?  This particular one has  interesting components.  They use folk tales and other  cultural approaches to creating  stories of Somali health for  radio, television, and classroom  use.  It's not only saying "We want to  educate this community about  this one particular issue, and  we want to make sure that they  receive the information created  by Somalis," but also they want  to look at the other part. 

 How can we help Somalis learn  English?  How can we improve and bring  these two worlds together so we  can understand each other  better?  They will air their program  about mental health in the Twin  Cities.  The program is primarily  intended for members of the  Somali community at this stage.  So the first phase is creating  the project in Somali.  It will be subtitled in the next  phase in English, and then it  will be divided so they can use  the different modules to teach  English.  Using Somali language and  aspects of Somali culture to  relate information and reduce  barriers associated with mental  health.  It was interesting to hear from  some of the leaders in the  community and some of the health  experts say, "There's no way,  first of all, we're not going to  have women in the room, it's  going to be all men in the  Somali community.  " Second of all, "You're not  going to have people talking  about mental health issues,  there's no way.  " Just to show you a little bit.  This is a picture of the focus  group we have in the Twin Cities  a couple of months ago.  Full of women, they're all  talking about mental health  issues. 

 It is interesting that some of  the assumptions, and some of the  barriers that we have, need to  be also broken down.  I'll show you the video,  although it's in Somali, I just  want to show you a little bit of  the video so you can see an  interview.  The video features interviews  that address cultural  differences and perceptions  about mental health and social  stigmas, and provide information  about resources including some  cultural beliefs.  Their community radio partner  will air a special call-in show.  Callers will be able to ask  questions about mental health  and receive answers.  Also the other aspect of using  radio for immigrants in the  community.  I don't know if you notice that  when you are in a community, in  a smaller community, though I  don't want to say that all  Latinos know each other, as we  already know about some of the  perceptions.  But it's true that when you live  in a smaller community you all  know each other.  That your neighbor is the  interpreter or is the person  that you see in church, or it  gets a little complicated in  terms of privacy.  So the radio is a great medium  to be able to call in without  being identified. 

 A corresponding lesson for  corresponding English language  learners is also being prepared,  and the DVD will be available,  and something that is very  interesting, we have this  website that we are trying to  get more people coming to.  This group has been getting so  many hits and we know that the  number of DVDs that are being  requested.  Not just in the US  but also outside of the US.  And I'll show you a little  bit more from one of the leaders  in the program that speaks a  little more about the program.  >> My name is Said Fahir, and  I'm from Minneapolis, MN, I'm  originally from Somalia.  I've been here in the United  States for 17 years, seven of  them as a graduate student.  The project we are involved with  is called Egal Shidad.  He is a cartoon figure in the  Somali culture.  He lived two hundred years ago.  We want to use his stories for  telling health; much of the  program deals with issues that  are important to the Somali  community in Minnesota after  they are settled there after a  civil war in their country. 

 We are dealing with issues of  mental health, trauma,  post-traumatic disorder, we are  also dealing with issues of  living in a strange country  where you don't have the chances  to walk long distances as they  did in Somali.  We'll be using radio, TV, and  ESL classes to tell those  stories.    It's a participatory project  where everybody in the community  has an input.  We are using Somali elders,  people who go out, health  workers in Minnesota who are of  Somali origin, using mainstream  providers.  The project will educate those  mainstream health providers  about health providers about  Somali culture and their health  here in the United States.  >> And just to show you a little  bit, it's long, but just to show  you the animation.  It's in Somali, but just to show  you the interview they had.  (Somali) This is the animation.  They're telling the story of a  man suffering from mental health  issues.  It is easy to incorporate  traditional values here, so  people understand that it is not  happening isolated from them. 

 And that there are providers who  can help you overcome it.  So, they also have real  interviews with either providers  who are part of the Somali  community or outside of the  community.  So in a very comfortable  setting, you can view this, and  realize that there are many  different resources that you can  access.  (Somali)  So that's the one in  the Twin Cities.  We also have Atlanta; it's very  interesting working in  collaborations and different  groups come together and they  have different ways of working  and you never know whether  they're going to come together  or not.  Atlanta is one of those groups  that we're hoping will work, but  they face some struggles in the  planning phase.  We're hoping that it will work  and that they will continue to  be a part of New Routes.  But it's interesting to do this  type of work.  Sometimes you see the project on  paper and it looks great, and  then you realize there are some  issues to work through.  This group is East African  immigrants and they're Atlanta  neighbors, collaborating on  creating on-air, online, and  onstage productions promoting  health and cultural competency  within their community. 

 Hopefully next year I'll be able  to show you a little bit more  about what they are doing.  It's really lovely people, and  an interesting community.  In Boston we have a group that  will create tele-novellas to  help Haitian immigrants  recognize and respond to  symptoms of stress, depression,  and anxiety.  This has been very interesting  because across the different  communities, one of the issues  that comes up often more often  than the rest is related to  mental health issues.  Created by the fact that they  have moved to another country.  The project will help to nurture  a new Haitian immigrant  production team to produce and  market a tele-novella program.  Their objective is to  familiarize the Haitian  community with the real  experiences of immigrants who  face depression and anxiety and  understand the acculturative  stress.  So, moving to a different  country and having that  pressure, some of them  professionals who are having to  do different types of work.  That's their identity.  Interesting from the other ones,  some of the other projects are  going directly to producing  information. 

 They already had focus groups  and work done before they  started with the New Routes  project, so they knew what they  wanted to create.  For this particular group, it  has been interesting.  The process has been a little  bit the other way around.  They want to make sure they have  enough outreach, that the  community is familiar with the  mental health issue as a  concept, and then the second  year they will create their  tele-novellas.  We will hear from one of the  immigrant organizations.  It's almost done, I know it has  been a pretty long time to see  if you guys have any questions  or comments on these projects.  One more and we will be done.  >> New Routes to Community  Health: improving the lives of  immigrants through media  production and community  partnerships at eight grant  sites across America.  The Boston-based project is  called Twa Zanmi, "Three  Friends," a Haitian community  production team will create a  tele-novella about the real  experience of immigrants living  with depression and anxiety.  >> My name is -- and I come from  a community-- We've been working  in the community for many years. 

 Locally, this came about to  address an issue that was very,  very critical to the community.  Mental health.  One of the excitements that I  had about this project was to  see this is a very powerful  issue, and I said, "How are we  gonna address such an issue?  " Hopefully this project will  give us the opportunity to  really start talking about  mental health issues.  For example, if someone has  depression.  >> We talked to families and  young families with disabilities  about their goals for their  lives and their future, and the  biggest disability is low  expectations.  The barriers that are placed  upon them by rejection and  socialization are much harder to  overcome than the disability  itself sometimes.  So in a small way, we hope that  what we add to this project is  that view.  And can we help the Haitian  American public health  initiative and the Haitian media  network take that kind of  disability experience and  culture and deal with a very  sensitive issue in their  community about the taboo of  mental health.  >> So, that's the group in  Boston.  So again, they will make the  tele-novella, the immigrant  association will host them at a  series of community meetings to  get stories and ideas to create  the tele-novellas. 

 They will go back and get  community engagement forums.  One of them said, "We want to  create something that will  express the feeling of isolation  and frustration many families  endure.  Something everyone can relate  to.  In a sense, this is a  community-directed project as it  is their voice that will reflect  in the episodes.  By watching and listening to the  programs, men and women can  start a discussion about mental  health issues in their own  community.  " So that's pretty much the  goal, and they realize that they  need the community to make  effective what they're creating.  And finally, finally, the group  in Philadelphia, "Our Stories,  Our Health," is a project which  will feature immigrant Laotian  and Vietnamese immigrants  telling their stories in a video  created by Southeast Asian  elders.  So just imagine this group of  elders are learning how to  actually work a camera.  And they will create their own  stories, their own vignette.  The project is to engage,  Laotian and Vietnamese seniors  in the process of health needs  identification, first-person  storytelling, and video  production. 

 Community discussions on  hypertension, language access,  and patient-provider  communication.  You will really understand this  because certainly a lot of them  are waiting for the community to  tell them, what type of themes  and topics they need to address,  and one of the partners is a  university-based group.  They are the University of  Pennsylvania, and they have  created a logic model.  I think that certainly in terms  of being able to reproduce some  of the projects, this will help  us.  And other groups and foundations  will want to see this type of  proof that this project is  working.  So hopefully we will having  something similar to this for  other groups, so we will be able  to showcase this and hopefully  have another grant ground,  because this one ends actually  in 2010.  I believe Jeanan will have this  presentation so you will have a  chance to look at this model and  look at the result.  The timeline is just quite a  program that they have.  The logos at the bottom  represent the organizations that  are partnering for this project.  Thank you very much for your  attention, I know it has been  kind of long, and I've been  presenting a lot of information,  but I wanted to show you what  people are doing to help  themselves across the nation,  and how other organizations are  coming together to have very  innovative ways of addressing  issues in local communities. 

 You can certainly send me, and  email me with any additional  information, if you have stories  to share that have to do with  immigrants or refugees somehow  in your life, related to what we  are doing, certainly we have a  blog section in our website and  other ways that we can share.  And of course I didn't want to  leave without telling you that  I'm also part of the website,  and that's my information.  I present lots of this  information across the nation,  and again, if you wanted to go  to the website and share, and  look at what we have, please do  so.  Again, you can look at each of  the projects that we have on our  website, newroutes.org  >> Thank you, Brenda.