Our integrated strategy includes the deployment of certified bilingual Community Health Workers (CHW) working primarily with two large primary care practices- Valley Medical Group and Northampton Area Pediatrics.  The purpose of the CHW is to improve access to and increase utilization of primary health care, and reduce health disparities by serving as the ‘bridge’ between clients in the needs and health care services.  The CHWs will also offer educational groups on health topics to the Latino community and Chronic Disease Management groups. 

In addition, Casa Latina will be offering  staff training for health providers and partner agencies on such topics as Latino culture, health education materials for bilingual and low-literacy audiences, and organizational strategies to create a more ‘Latino-friendly’ environment.

Finally, Casa Latina will be facilitating a broader Partnership Coalition of providers, consumers and local service agencies. Our agency partners include – ServiceNet, the Hilltown Community Health Center and Cooley-Dickinson Hospital will serve on the Partnership coalition with VMG and NAPEDS. Through a combination of these efforts we will be increasing the community’s understanding of the root causes of disparities and the community’s role in helping to shape local solutions.

He was a longtime educator in the Northampton school system and later in Springfield. He was a very serviceable and community-oriented person, helping many people and organizations, especially the Hispanic community. He loved his students. He was on the Board of Directors at Florence Saving Bank, was a former member of the Northampton Housing Authority, and was the former acting director of Casa Latina in the 1970s. He was a sports fan, enjoying football and especially basketball. He was a wonderful husband, father, and grampy.  

 The staff and board of Casa Latina offers its condolences to Ricardo’s family. 

The guests of honor were the politicians who helped secure the new grants and three Casa Latina board members who stepped down recently after lengthy terms. The former board members, Dalila Balfour, Paul Hyry and Carlos Santiago, helped guide Casa Latina out of a similar fiscal crisis about 10 years ago, and helped shape the organization’s mission since then, Garcia said.   

Last week’s celebration, called El Reencuentro, was also a chance for members of Hampshire County’s Latino community to give feedback. The event has been held every December for eight years.

Garcia said it was the most diverse Reencuentro yet, with people representing Mexican, Salvadoran, Ecuadorian and Colombian backgrounds.

Garcia said state representatives Peter Kocot, D-Northampton, and Ellen Story, D-Amherst, as well as state Sen. Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, helped Casa Latina find and apply for grants from the state Department of Health and Human Services, Hispanics in Philanthropy, the Western Massachusetts Community Foundation and Highland Valley Elder Services. 

The nonprofits were among 215 in the state to benefit last week from the Patrick-Murray Inaugural Committee Charitable Giving Program. 

The program passes along unused inaugural funds.Stephen Crawford, a spokesman for Gov. Deval Patrick’s political and inaugural committees, said that the committee wanted to foster civic engagement – a major tenet of Patrick’s campaign.

“The mission of the inaugural was to encourage civic engagement,” Crawford said.

Other area recipients included The Amherst Survival Center, The Center for New Americans, and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.