por la Universidad de Michigan

by the University of Michigan — Despite recent government efforts, the medical needs of about 6 million children in the United States are not being met, according to data from as recent as 2006. Even more troubling, researchers say, is the substantial growth in those numbers, from approximately 4.5 million children in 1998.

Children without insurance and children without a regular source of health care are the most likely to report unmet medical needs, suggesting that improvements are essential in government efforts to address the health of vulnerable children, according to a new study from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

Researchers also found that Hispanic children are uninsured at higher rates and do not have a regular place to seek medical attention known as a usual source of care (USC). The study appears in the new issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers from the Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit in the U-M Division of General Pediatrics set out to find how the proportions of publicly insured children (Medicaid and the State Child Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP) and uninsured children without a USC had changed over time (1998-2006).

The time period in the study was chosen so that researchers could evaluate the influence of two federal programs in providing a USC for vulnerable children.

SCHIP was initiated by the federal government in 1997 to expand health coverage to children. The President’s Health Center Initiative (PHCI) was launched in 2002 with a goal of expanding health centers in medically underserved communities.

Researchers found significant decreases in the proportions of children that were privately insured. In addition, increasing proportions of uninsured children reported having no USC over the study period.

Compared with a child covered with private insurance, the odds of reporting unmet medical needs increased steadily among uninsured children between 1998 and 2006, from 4.7 to 6.2. In addition, the odds of reporting unmet medical needs among children without a USC rose from 3.7 to 5.3 compared with children who identified a private office as a USC.

“Our research shows that these government programs have not yet fully addressed the health care needs of the most vulnerable children,” says lead study author Leesha K. Hoilette, M.D., a pediatric health services research fellow with the CHEAR Unit.

“As the nation continues to focus on the future of health care, and, in particular, health care for children, it seems insufficient to focus policy efforts on either health care coverage or access alone,” Hoilette says. “Initiatives must be targeted in tandem to increase both coverage and access and reduce unmet medical need.”

Researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey. Their fi ndings show: The distribution of children according to insurance status changed signifi cantly in 2006 from 1998, with higher proportions enrolled in public programs and lower proportions privately insured.

• The proportion of uninsured children has remained stable from 2002-2006, at approximately 10 percent. However, the proportion of uninsured reporting no USC increased over the same time period. (23 percent in 2006).
• Hispanic children now constitute the largest proportions of uninsured children and those reporting no USC.
• Private offices continued to be a USC for the bulk of children regardless of insurance status. However, the proportions of uninsured and SCHIP-enrolled children who identified a private offi ce as a USC has decreased recently.
• With increasing proportions of uninsured children reporting no USC despite the overall proportion remaining stable, there is troubling shift toward reporting no USC, the researchers say. Uninsured children and children without a USC reported the highest odds of unmet medical need, compared with privately insured children with a USC. These tre­nds were stable over the study period.
• Publicly insured children have two times the odds of reporting an unmet medical need compared with the privately insured, revealing a dichotomy that warrants attention on how to address this continuing disparity, Hoilette says.

by Jacqueline Baylón

Workers protest against Rite Aids Drugstors to highlight what they call employer abuse and need for Congress to pass The Employer Free Choice Act.(photo by Marvin Ramirez)

A community in East Los Angeles will welcome its first new high school in nearly a century this year.

The real celebration, however, is that the Los Angeles Board of Education has voted to name itin honor of pioneer Mexican-American civil rights ­leaders Felicitas and Gonzalo Méndez.

The Méndez family fought against prejudice and segregation back in 1943, when their children were denied entry into the allwhite17th Street School in Westminster Calif, because of their “race.”

Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County was the 1947 decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that ended the practice of sending Latino children to “all Mexican” schools in California.

The suit was filed by Gonzalo Méndez and four other parents on behalf of the 5,000 Latino children who attended schools in the district.

It was a precursor to court cases including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in Kansas, which ended school segregation for all children nationwide The U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 17,1954, on that suit, filed three years earlier on behalf of 20 black elementary school students.

Residents of the Los Angeles school district said naming the campus after pioneer advocates who fought for their community is symbolic to the students and this pride will help increase graduation rates.

The Felicitas and Gonzalo Méndez Learning Center will open in Boyle Heights next fall.

It will feature two small learning communities with 3B classrooms and 1,025 seats, providing relief from overcrowding at Roosevelt High School.

IN OTHER RELATED EDUCATION NEWS –

Economic Necessity Driving Latinos to Community Colleges

By Edwin Mora

As the national economic turmoil expands, more Latinos are flocking to two-year institutions “Latinos will continue to over-concentrate in community colleges so long the economic crisis continues on,” says Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic ­Association of Colleges and Universities. According to HACU, 46 percent of Latino college students attend two-year institutions. This contrasts to 37 percent of all college students.

“We estimate that enrollments at community colleges has risen approximately eight to ten percent for fall ‘08,” says Norma Kent, vice president of communications for the American Association of Community Colleges. “We’ve had increases reported from one percent to almost 20 percent.”

Cost of tuition in comparison to four-year institutions, according to Kent, is one of the main reasons for the increase.

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by the El Reportero’s news services

In mid-January relations between Ecuador and Colombia entered what seemed like a phase of renewed acrimony, as Bogotá reacted to new Ecuadorean immigration controls calling them ‘discriminatory [and] maybe even xenophobic.’ However, at the same time, both governments were taking steps in other areas which suggested a more conciliatory approach; Ecuador explicitly stated that its security buildup in the border area was intended to eliminate the presence of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas while Colombia announced the establishment along the border of a large military presence of its own.

Freed hostage accuses Farc of massacre

On 5 February Sigifredo López, the last of the politicians held by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), was released. López immediately accused the Farc of killing in 2007 the other 11 politicians who were kidnapped with him in 2002.

The government of President Alvaro Uribe has always argued that the Farc killed the state politicians on 18 June 2007. López, though not an eye-witness, endorses the government’s version, and his evidence, though not conclusive, is convincing. López suggests that the Farc killed the deputies by mistake when one Farc group mistook another for a government (or mercenary) rescue attempt to free the hostages.

Brazil still loves Lula, but Serra is president in waiting

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s popularity remains unassailable. In fact, according to the latest (January 2009) CNT/Sensus opinion poll, the most widely cited barometer of the prevailing public mood in the country, Brazilians take comfort from his sunny disposition and his resolute confi dence in the face of the current economic downturn, which is threatening jobs and household incomes this year.

The president’s approval rating reached a new record-breaking 84 percent in January, up from 80.3 percent in Dece­mber 2008, while the government’s approval rating was 72.5 percent, up from 71.1 percent previously. Frustratingly for Lula and his ruling centreleft Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), however, the main centre-right oppostion candidate, São Paulo state governor José Serra, of the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB), remains the firm favourite to replace Lula in the next presidential election in 2010.

by José de la Isla

HOUSTON – The Republican National Hispanic Assembly will lead what it describes as a “fresh dialogue to recapture its competitiveness’’ in winning the Hispanic vote at a two-hour forum and “frank discussion” in Washington, D.C. Nov 19.

“The Republican Party cannot hope to regain a governor majority or win national elections without significantly improving its results among Hispanic voters,” warned the RNHA in announcing the $50 breakfast event cosponsored by the Hispanic Leadership Fund and Americans for Tax Reform.

Among senior party leaders listed as participants along with RNHA President Danny Vargas.’ is Michael Steele’ newly elected president of the Republican National Committee.

Following the election of Steele to that leadership post, GOP activist Leslie Sánchez pondered whether the two political parties will be able to look beyond the stereotypes of Latinos as they vie to attract them. Last year Sánchez authored “Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other,” a book that drew media attention but apparently changed few minds within the party.

Her question is elemental Hispanics, stereotypes aside, can be rich and poor, entrepreneurial and the jobless, colonial pioneers and yesterday’s arrivals. Willingness to hold together as a community is a strength that registered in last November’s presidential election.

Despite some claims to the contrary, the historical truth is Hispanics align roughly two-thirds Democratic and one-third Republican There are exceptions, of course, and John McCain’s 31 percent of the Latino vote in November was close to the mark.

Sánchez recognizes Republicans must win at least 35°/0 of the Hispanic vote to remain viable in future presidential races. Like many Republicans since the 1970s, she concentrates on the affinity with entrepreneurs, the middle class, and the upwardly mobile as the best recruits.

The problem with classism like that is it drives a wedge among Latinos as a community of interests.

This approach was most recently rejected as Latinos of differing income levels and professional strata were slapped in the face with the reality that hateful anti-immigrant talk really does brush-paint their own families. Many who thought they were accepted into the middle- and upper-class milieu discovered they were still perceived as oUtsiders.

Brought into question is whether it’s possible to be a respectable Republican and a Latino as well.

By allowing anti-immigrant radicals to run amok, divide-and-conquer class politics is played out while the party preaches there is room for everybody. Lost are the shared interests of fair chance, good schools, democratic representation and the like. No party has a patent on such values.

The challenge before Chairman Steele isn’t how to entice a Latino constituency to the existing Republican Party but how to prove to Hispanics the party is capable of change and worthy of their participation. vVhere will the next generation of moderate, sensible GOP candidates come from, those who know better than to shoot the chef when they are hungry.

It’s worth remembering that a good many Republican and independent voters helped throw out a lot of the incumbents in 2006 and 2008 who joined Tom Tancredo’s inquisitions.

That should have sent the leadership a clear message: too many Republican candidates, even those wearing sheep’s clothing, scared Hispanic and non-Hispanic voters as well with their endorsements of hateful policies.

It concerned our national morality Bullying immigrants was the wrong response to the problem.

The Republican dilemma is that without Latinos, the party doesn’t stand a chance in any near-term presidential election, and it will increasingly lose statewide races in new Democratic territory such as Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina. The usual Republican electorate is not growing, while the Latino population is.

Chairman Steele could start with a culture cleansing. Just as Bill Clinton’s New Democratic politics stole pages from the Republican play book, so can Chairman Steele steal one from him.

He could begin by apologizing. The party has become morally lax. It has compromised the nation’s values by proposing preposterous ­policies and promoted tired stereotypes It ain’t much—not nearly enough—but letting the putrid fumes out of the room is a start. Hispanic Link.

by the University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Michigan.— Environmental conditions are much more powerful than genetic influences in determining intelligence, according to University of Michigan social psychologist Richard E. Nisbett.

Nisbett is the author of “Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count,” to be published Feb. 2, 2009, by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

According to Nisbett, recent research in psychology, genetics, and neuroscience, and new studies on the effectiveness of educational interventions, have shown that intelligence is strongly affected by environmental factors that have nothing to do with genes. In the book, Nisbett analyzes a large number of such studies, showing how environment influences not just IQ as measured by standardized tests but also actual achievement.

“Believing that intelligence is under your control – and having parents who demand achievement – can do wonders,” Nisbett writes.

For example, the high academic and occupational attainment of Asians and Jews is not due to higher IQs, but to family values that emphasize accomplishment and intellectual attainment, and to cultures that emphasize hard work and persistence.

Likewise, Nisbett points out, genes play no role in race differences in IQ between Blacks and Caucasians. Class and race differences starting in early infancy combine with neighborhood, cultural, and educational differences that widen this gap.

“We need intensive early childhood education for the poor, and home visits to teach parents how to encourage intellectual development,” Nisbett writes.

“Such efforts can produce huge immediate gains in IQ and enormous long-term gains in academic achievement and occupational attainment. Highly ambitious elementary, junior high, and high school programs can also produce massive gains in academic achievement.

And a variety of simple, ­cost-free interventions, including, most notably, simply convincing students that their intelligence is under their control to a substantial extent, can make a big difference to academic achievement.”

The U.S. has fallen behind most of the developed world in its level of educational achievement, Nisbett points out, attributing this deficit to the large and widening gaps between socioeconomic classes in this country.Being poor is linked with many environmental factors of a biological and social nature that lower IQ and acedmic achievement.

These factors include poor nutrition, inferior medical care, a low rate of breastfeeding and parenting styles that are much less warm and supportive than those of higher socioeconomic status parents. Not only are many U.S. Blacks affl icted with these problems, he points out, they also struggle with stereotypes and prejudice that intensify decreases in performance.

Nisbett singles out several educational intervention programs that have been shown to be effective in closing the racial and socioeconomic gap in school achievement. He also debunks the claims of success in other programs and techniques, including the No Child Left Behind Act.

­by José de la Isla

A group of anti-immigrant activists protest against undocumented immigration. (photo by Intellingence Report)

A new book of essays edited by Clintonera HUD secretary and former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros,calls attention to the close tie between the nation’s future growth and that of the Latino community.

“Latinos and the Nation’s Future,” published by Arte Público Press, was released Jan. 26 in Washington, D.C. at the American Progress Center, a think-tank closely associated with the Obama administration.

Its 16 chapters are written by 17 renowned authorities in their respective fields. Four sections, comprising 248 pages (including extensive statistical tables in one appendix), cover perspectives of the past and present, the larger society, statistical interpretations, and interpretations by MacArthur fellow Ernesto Cortés and Nicolás Kanellos about what it all means.

“The answer (to Latino progress) lies in the extent and rapidity of investment in education and in the Latino progression to the middle class,” says Cisneros in his overview essay.

The tenuousness about the progression is best illustrated by Janet Murguía’s generalizations in the forward. She recognizes immigrants are assimilating well but that Latinos as a group are below par on educational achievement, they work for low wages often in dead-end jobs, but are demographically growing exponentially and “put our entire country’s future at risk” when progress does not come fast enough. Yet she acknowledges Latinos “have the raw materials of our immigrant ancestors.”

Immigration issues and concerns, it’s true, have stolen the show for the past two decades, old complaints in the present color a lot of the thinking in many of the essays, and discussion is thin on mid-course corrections to form the idealized future that’s envisioned.

Raúl Yzaguirre, the former executive director of the National Council of La Raza, writes an exceptional essay on civil rights (a story all citizens should know) and Tamar Jacoby should probably serve as the last word on immigrants and newcomers and the emerging new nation. With award winning scholar and publisher Nicolás Kanellos, the background chapters are among the strongest in the volume. Although having many insights and strong qualities, the overall impression is that of shock and awe.

Essay contributors seem to assume that a national Latino presence comes as a shock to readers, that a quarter of the U.S. population will be Latino at mid-century (or hybrid progeny from intermarriage), that political representation will increase (Lionel Sosa), that education is a key focus (Sarita Brown)— as it has been for three centuries — and that the immigration demonstrations of 2006 were the largest since the Civil Right Movement of the 1960s (Joe García).

The awe is that Latinos now count in every step of the way toward forging what the nation becomes next (Roberto Suro and Leobardo Estrada).

The quaint twentieth century terms and concepts of “assimilation” and “integration” ­are applied liberally to refer to the process of a new consensus.

The resulting vision, posited by Kanellos, is that of a future United States that is more fully integrated into the economies and workings of this continent—more so than other global extensions.

Hispanics become more “mainstream,” corporate interests extend to Hispanic and hemispheric markets, and Latinos are in leadership positions in all aspects of national life.

A transnational identity arises and the future, according to this perspective, is like the present only more Latino. Hispanic Link.

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by the El Reportero’s news services

On Feb. 1, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) released four hostages to opposition senator Piedad Córdoba and a commission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Later the same day, a car bomb in the south-western city of Cali killed two people and injured at least 17. President Alvaro Uribe’s response to the blast was uncompromising: he has prohibited Córdoba, the FARC’s main point of contact, from participating in the release of the group’s last two civilian hostages, planned for today (Feb. 2) and Wednesday (Feb. 4).

Uribe is determined to prevent the battered group from using hostage releases to regain political leverage, and is sending a clear message that his government will not bend to pressure from renewed terrorist attacks.

His decision may, however, prove unpopular: it is not yet clear as to whether the FARC will cooperate without Córdoba, thus the release process has been thrown temporarily into limbo.

Ailing Castro throws first punch at Obama

HAVANA – Fidel Castro on Thursday threw his first punch at President Barack Obama after several weeks of praise for the new leader, demanding the U.S. return Guantanamo Bay military base to Cuba and criticizing the U.S. defense of Israel. Castro’s latest essay, published on an official Web site, came one week after he called Obama “intelligent and noble” and said he would cut back on his writings to prevent interfering with Cuban government decisions.

The missive Thursday raised new questions about what role he maintains in policy making, especially coming while his brother, President Raul Castro, was in Moscow on an official visit.

The ailing 82-year-old 1former president wrote that if the U.S. doesn’t give the U.S. base at Guantanamo back to Cuba, it will be a violation of international law and an abuse of American ­power against a small country.

The U.S. president must “respect this norm without any condition,” Castro wrote.

The U.S., which acquired Guantanamo more than 100 years ago, considers it strategically important to maintain. The treaty granting its use remains in effect unless both Cuba and the U.S. abrogate it or the U.S. abandons the base.

In his Thursday essay, Castro also criticized Obama for backing Israel’s defense against attacks by Palestinian militants. He said it demonstrated “the abusive character of the empire’s power” and insisted it would contribute to “the genocide against the Palestinians.”

(Latin Briefs and Associated Press contributed to this report).