Annual Report
This has been an exciting and eventful year for the staff of Northern Kentucky University’s Latino & Multicultural Center for Regional Development. We have devoted our energy to six projects totaling more than $400,000 toward our mission of promoting education, health and safety for the Latino and Multicultural community. The Latino and Multicultural Center’s (LMC) mission is to be a catalyst and connect services that will benefit our community. In support of that mission, LMC staff meets regularly with community leaders from the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati region, Hamilton and Dayton Ohio. We are sharing ideas and generating solutions to our common probleams as we build a cohesive and vibrant community.
Our year began in August 2005 with a survey funded by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati of 535 Latino/Hispanic residents. The goal was to understand the health status and demographics of our newly emergent Latino community. Most of the respondents, representing 18 different countries, perceived themselves to be in good health but many listed ailments such as chronic back pain, depression, severe allergies, migraine headaches, and high cholesterol as health issues. The vast majority of those surveyed did not have health insurance and cited the high cost of care as a barrier to receiving health care. Consequently, the work of the staff of the LMC in promoting access and affordability of health care for the multicultural community is only just beginning!
We have been using the results of this survey to move forward two health initiatives. Our team is finalizing the first initiative with a strategic plan funded by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky to integrate medical and mental health services for Hispanic residents of Northern Kentucky. This plan calls for more than $250,000 to be awarded to a local agency to coordinate medical and mental health services at Centro de Amistad in Erlanger Kentucky. The second initiative headed by the LMC and funded by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati is the development of models of best practices in mental health for the delivery of services for our Latino/Hispanic community. Our goal is by next year, all of our region’s residents will have access to vital medical and mental health services.
Three educational initiatives the LMC is particularly proud of are the ongoing efforts we are heading up for:
- Translation/Interpretation between parents and teachers in Boone County Schools
- “Build It, Trust It, Use It” Computer Building and Literacy project
- Outreach efforts on behalf of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund
In the Boone County Schools, teachers and administrators provide educational services to 36 language groups. Parents of these language groups often are not understanding teacher’s messages about their children’s school performance. To bridge this gap, LMC staff began a service-learning project and placed volunteer Northern Kentucky University students in the schools to begin interpreting between teachers and student’s families. This may be the first time that our Hispanic parents truly understood what their children were learning in school and how they could help.
The “Build It, Trust It, Use It” project was funded by the National Science Foundation for $250,000. In this series of workshops, 30 Hispanic families will learn to build their own computer, learn about basic software programs and how to keep their children safe on the Internet. At the end of the series, each family will take home a brand new Dell computer, furthering their educational opportunities.
Education is the key to success for any community and the LMC staff has worked tirelessly to support the mission of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) assisting in recruiting and helping students to succeed in college. We have visited students and staff at more than 12 local schools to promote the HSF initiatives and to give Latino students hope that they will be able to afford and succeed in college. Our HSF Town Hall meeting and picnic, attended by more than 60 students and their families was the first time many of them had seen a college campus. Those who attended were rewarded with a free Cincinnati Reds Baseball game after the picnic.
Finally, we would like to say thank you to our Board of Visitors. Our board devoted enormous time and energy with us over the last year and a half developing a foundation for the LMC mission and strategic plan. Without their determined efforts on behalf of the LMC and the multicultural community, we would not have been able to establish such a firm foundation for our future endeavors. Soon, we will celebrate all our accomplishments and thank the Board of Visitors for their services with a reception at our new house on 506 Johns Hill Road.
Beginning our second year as an established Center, we will develop several smaller leadership committees for specific mission based issues and a Board of Governors. Please contact me if you would be interested in being part of the LMC’s work for the Greater Cincinnati Latino and Multicultural community. On behalf of the staff and volunteers of Northern Kentucky University’s Latino & Multicultural Center, thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Holly A. Riffe, Ph.D.
Director, Latino & Multicultural Center for Regional Development