The current social and economic climate creates a distinct set of pressures on Black women and Latinas. Thirty-four percent cite finances or issues related to inadequate income as the top concerns facing their households. Safety, health, and housing also rank as chief concerns. More than 3 in 5 respondents reported having a mental health concern for which they did not seek care from a provider. The barriers they cited include travel expenses, length of travel time to appointments, and inability to take time off work. Women without coverage for mental health services, those with mental health conditions, younger women, and those covered through Medi-Cal reported the highest rates of untreated needs.
Published
on
By
By Maxim Elramsisy
California Black Media
A poll of Black women and Latinas across California conducted by Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) and Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE)® found that 77% are experiencing some form of discrimination due to “personal characteristics,” including race or ethnicity, assumptions about income or education, and/or physical appearance.
“We have known that racism and discrimination take a toll on the mental health of our communities, and now we must factor in the disproportionate and lingering effects of the pandemic on communities of color,” said LaNiece Jones, executive director of BWOPA.
“What matters now is that we don’t sweep these added challenges aside but treat these barriers in mental health care for what they are: a crisis in care that must be urgently addressed,” Jones added.
The historic poll was conducted by Los Angeles-based public opinion research firm EVITARUS.
Responses were recorded from 800 Black and Latina women across California and the findings provide insights about the most important concerns that they face with their families, accessibility of mental health services, preferences for providers, and priorities for approaches to create greater equity in the provision of mental health care.
Experts widely agree that the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented global mental health crisis. People of color, young people, women, and those with low incomes were most at risk of mental health challenges before and after the pandemic, compounded by the added weight of a heightened economic crisis and instability, as well as more visible expressions of White Supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-immigrant sentiment and hate crimes aimed at communities of color.
The current social and economic climate creates a distinct set of pressures on Black women and Latinas. Thirty-four percent cite finances or issues related to inadequate income as the top concerns facing their households. Safety, health, and housing also rank as chief concerns.
More than 3 in 5 respondents reported having a mental health concern for which they did not seek care from a provider. The barriers they cited include travel expenses, length of travel time to appointments, and inability to take time off work. Women without coverage for mental health services, those with mental health conditions, younger women, and those covered through Medi-Cal reported the highest rates of untreated needs.
The women who did seek help reported often having negative experiences. Seventy percent of Black women and 54% of Latinas reported racial or ethnic discrimination. Another 59% of Black women and 55% of Latinas reported “assumptions people make about your income or level of education.”
Forty percent of Latinas reported discrimination based on “assumptions about their ability to communicate in English” and 28% reported “assumptions about…documentation of immigration status.” Several other types of discrimination were reported, particularly relating to class, faith, size, and accent.
“Our research draws a direct line between the challenges in accessing mental health care for Latinas and Black women to the shortage of mental health professionals that share our backgrounds,” said Helen Torres, CEO of HOPE. “The data is a call to action for healthcare providers and educational institutions to address the negative impacts of a healthcare workforce that does not represent the communities it serves. We must take steps to close the representation gap and provide better care to all.”
Nearly half of respondents reported difficulty finding access to a mental health provider.
Fifty-seven percent of Black or African American women and 38% of Latina women said that it was extremely important or very important to have providers of the same background, but more than half said it is difficult to find a provider who shares their values or comes from a similar background. According to the Medical Board of California, only 4% of active psychiatrists practicing in California are Latino and only 2% are Black.
The ability to find a therapist with shared values and offering low-cost services were the most commonly reported barriers, though many also reported difficulty finding providers and services covered by their insurance. Insurance acceptance was the most documented problem across all age groups, underscoring the widespread unaffordability of mental health care.
Disparities in women’s health are well documented at almost every level of health care. Mental health is no different.
The mental health crisis is not specific to adults. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people ages 15-19, according to a 2019 study on mortality. Suicide rates among Black youth have been rising for more than a decade, most sharply among Black girls. According to a 2021 report, approximately one third of young Latinas seriously contemplate suicide.
Long-existing disparities in maternal health are also present with relation to mental health. Women of color suffer from higher rates of postpartum depression compared to white women. They also have a lower rate of screening and treatment for post-partum mood disorders.
The study recommended increased funding to address the barriers to getting adequate care and development of programs, scholarships and financial aid to increase the pipeline of Black women and Latinas in mental health related fields — which, experts say, will increase the number of mental health advocates and promotors who can work to help women navigate the system and expand awareness among communities of color about the benefits of seeking help or support when facing mental health challenges.
Ready to start a business? Here are six steps before opening your doors
State Task Force Getting Closer to Identifying What Reparations Look Like
State Task Force Getting Closer to Identifying What Reparations Look Like
Misty Copeland’s New Memoir “The Wind at My Back” Pays Homage to Another Black Ballerina
Proposed Bill Could Stop Landlords from Charging Costly Security Deposits
COMMENTARY: Tis a Time for Political Change
Guaranteed Income Program for Pregnant Black Women Expands Services Across State
OPINION: Why High School Students Don’t Need the SAT Anymore
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
“We have been doing our best to find a partner to keep the university functioning and continue HNU’s mission,” said HNU Board Chairperson Steven Borg in the press release. “While we’ve had interest in long-term collaboration from potential partners, we do not have the type of interest that would sustain HNU in continuing to offer its own programs and services, so we are forced to make the difficult decision to close and designate a transfer institution in the best interest of our students.”
Published
on
By
By Ken Epstein
Holy Names University (HNU), which has served Oakland for 154 years, earning deep respect as one of the nation’s most diverse post-secondary educational centers, offering bachelors’ degrees, training teachers, social workers, and nurses, announced this week it will close permanently at the end of next semester, leaving the city with no major university since the recent loss of Mills College.
Responding to the news, HNU students and staff spoke at Tuesday’s Oakland City Council meeting, seeking to rescue the city’s higher-education pipeline. The council, passing a resolution authored by Councilmember Carroll Fife and Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan, went on record calling for the university to work with the Oakland community to ensure that the beautiful 60-acre campus can become a home for another university, rather than be sold to a real estate developer to build an exclusive residential enclave.
HNU’s administration, mostly silent as news and rumors about the university swirled around campus for the past few months, deeply worrying staff and students, made the announcement after the school closed last Friday for a holiday break, and no students were around.
The university’s Board of Trustees revealed their plans Monday in a press release produced by Sam Singer public relations. Singer has a long history as an aggressive representative of corporate clients, including Chevron in its legal battle with indigenous communities in Ecuador’s Amazon forests, and Wedgewood, the real estate company that owned the home in West Oakland taken over by Moms for Housing.
According to the press release, the Board of Trustees blamed COVID-19 and an economic downturn that disproportionately impacted HNU students for the university’s predicament.
“HNU has worked tirelessly to find pathways to help continue its mission but was forced by financial circumstances to cancel its NCAA sports programs as of the end of spring season, issue WARN ACT notices to staff beginning Dec. 1, and give layoff notices to 32 employees effective at the end of January/early February,” the press release said.
“We have been doing our best to find a partner to keep the university functioning and continue HNU’s mission,” said HNU Board Chairperson Steven Borg in the press release. “While we’ve had interest in long-term collaboration from potential partners, we do not have the type of interest that would sustain HNU in continuing to offer its own programs and services, so we are forced to make the difficult decision to close and designate a transfer institution in the best interest of our students.”
The press release said HNU is working with Dominican College in San Rafael to offer “specific pathways for students to complete their degrees at Dominican.”
HNU is also talking to other institutions to support the school’s Kodály Music Program and the Raskob Learning Institute and Day School, which “will either operate independently or in partnership with a new institution after this school year,” the press release said.
Explaining the financial hole that is crippling HNU’s operations, Borg said that there is “$49 million in debt on HNU’s property, but as a 65-year-old campus, the costs of deferred maintenance and compliance upgrades could be over $200 million.”
Tuesday’s City Council resolution, written originally while Council members and community leaders still hoped to reach out to the HNU administration to help avert the school’s closure, was modified to emphasize the need to save the campus as a site for a different institution that will graduate Oakland students and provide trained staff for local employers that need well-trained workers who are culturally competent.
The revised resolution said the Council and the community would work with HNU “to ensure that higher education continues at the current site.”
So far, the HNU administration has not responded to city leaders who have reached out with offers to help.
Many HNU staff and students as well as local residents spoke at the council meeting calling for the university to work with the community to continue higher education at the site.
Student Kayla Argueta said, “(Closing HNU) is uprooting lives. I am urging the Council and the community to make sure this stays an education institution. To see HNU closed down or sold to developers is terrifying to think of. It is an incredibly important part of Oakland, and something must be done to make sure the legacy lives on.”
Jim Stryker, chair of the HNU Faculty Senate, told the Council, “Thank you for the resolution. It is deeply appreciated by the faculty, staff, and students.”
Polly Mayer, vice chair of HNU ‘s Faculty Senate, said she was “saddened by the opportunities we are taking away from our students and faculty. It’s really a tragedy to see this educational institution close.”
Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb said, “I would hope the City Council and City of Oakland would work closely with the County of Alameda to support the educational infrastructure of the City of Oakland with hundreds of millions of dollars, like they are now spending on infrastructure for a stadium.”
He suggested they could partner with a Historically Black College or University at the site, “since HNU is the most integrated university in the country right now.”
Rev. Cheryl Ward called for the facility and property to be used for higher education purposes. “We all know there is a lack of education institutions that provide housing. The number of students who are unhoused is unconscionable in this city. Should we consider dismantling higher education in that space, since it provides housing?”
HNU staffer Nancy Schulz said “HNU is a university that really walks its talk. We have community partners and discounted tuition.” It has also provided the region with trained mental health workers.
In her remarks, Councilmember Fife, who attended HNU, said, “It’s an amazing school. It was a safe place and sanctuary for me as a working mom.”
In September, Fife was recognized as the institution’s Alumni of the Year.
Vice Mayor Kaplan said, “It would be incredibly problematic for the community to lose access” to the institution that provides the city with educational opportunities and a well-trained workforce.
The weather forecast predicted a 100% chance of rain for most of the day so CNC made the decision to wait for a clearer day to decorate the tree, but the party would still take place. The owners of Marty’s Grill, across the street from the Post Office and Kaiser Hospital at 1000 Nevin Ave., agreed to accommodate the council.
Published
on
By
For the last three years, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronado Neighborhood Council (CNC) has met at the park located at 18th Street and Virginia Avenue to decorate the tree that was planted for CNC by the City of Richmond.
This gathering would usually include everyone bringing an ornament and candy canes to place on the tree, a gift exchange and lunch: sandwiches, cookies, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and more.
This year was a little different. The weather forecast predicted a 100% chance of rain for most of the day so CNC made the decision to wait for a clearer day to decorate the tree, but the party would still take place. The owners of Marty’s Grill, across the street from the Post Office and Kaiser Hospital at 1000 Nevin Ave., agreed to accommodate the council.
Coronado Neighborhood Council volunteers. Photo by Ali Nasser.
CNC chose a menu that included a chicken tender combo, a bacon cheeseburger combo or Beyond Meat burger combo. The food was delicious, and the service was even better.
In past years, CNC would invite a member of the Richmond City Council to join them and say a few words. This year, its first year after being divided into districts, District 3 invited its representative and also invited Cezar Cepeda from District 2.
The celebration started with Coronado Neighborhood Councilmember John Stewart giving thanks for the occasion and for the food. The celebration ended with Maxine Fisher, CNC event coordinator, facilitating the gift exchange game.
University of California Irvine professor of Asian American Studies Judy Tzu-Chun Wu said Patsy Mink’s bouts with discrimination fueled her advocacy for Title IX against educational bodies that tried to exempt themselves from the civil rights law. “A lot of people associate Title IX with sports, but it’s really about all aspects of education,” Wu said. “It’s about admissions; It’s about scholarships; It’s about having a positive environment for women to be in school.”
Published
on
By
By McKenzie Jackson | California Black Media
Steve Prudholme traveled from Malibu to South Bend, Indiana, for 10 days last month to cheer on his daughter, Sophia, and her Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s soccer teammates in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship.
The younger Prudholme’s squad won three matches before being defeated, but her dad returned to the Golden State a happy father because his 19-year-old daughter is playing the sport she loves and getting a great college education.
“It makes me feel good to see her in that environment and also learning the trials and tribulations that sports teach you — especially from a female’s perspective,” Steve said.
The elder Prudholme said participating in sports allows Sophia to showcase her independence and strength of personality.
All of that is possible because of legislation championed by Democratic Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink of Hawaii.
Mink co-authored and spearheaded the Education Amendments of 1972, more commonly known as Title IX. The law prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives monies from the federal government.
Title IX was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972 and renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in 2002, after Mink’s death on Sept. 28, that year.
This week Mink would have turned 95. The tireless fighter for women’s rights and equity for everyone was born Patsy Matsu Takemoto in Paia, Hawaii Territory, on Dec. 6, 1927.
Title IX ensures that young women are entitled to the same athletic chances as young men. It has been responsible for increasing the number of girls and women playing organized sports nationally.
Girl high school sports participation increased from 294,015 in the 1971-72 school year to 3.4 million in 2018-19 according to a study by the Women’s Sports Federation. Participation has risen at the collegiate level — from 29,977 athletes at NCAA schools 50 years ago to 215,486 a in 2020-21.
The educational law has helped increase female enrollment in college. Women accounted for nearly 60% of all college students by the end of the 2020-21 academic year, and women were awarded 57% of the bachelor’s degrees conferred. Additionally, women earn nearly half of all law and medical degrees. Title IX is also a framework for handling sexual misconduct complaints on campuses.
Mink, known as an educational trailblazer who changed the politics of gender, called Title IX one of her most significant accomplishments as a member of Congress.
“I take special pride in honoring its contributions to changing our view about women’s role in America,” she said.
Mink served in Congress in two stints beginning in 1965. A Japanese American, Mink was the first woman of color to be elected to Congress, four years ahead of Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to Congress.
University of California Irvine professor of Asian American Studies Judy Tzu-Chun Wu said Mink’s bouts with discrimination fueled her advocacy for Title IX against educational bodies that tried to exempt themselves from the civil rights law.
“A lot of people associate Title IX with sports, but it’s really about all aspects of education,” Wu said. “It’s about admissions; It’s about scholarships; It’s about having a positive environment for women to be in school.”
Title IX turned 50 this year, so it and Mink have been the focus of celebrations nationally. A portrait of Mink was unveiled at the U.S. Capitol on the anniversary of Title IX’s signing by Nixon.
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi called Mink an American hero.
“With this portrait, the extraordinary courage of Patsy Mink will be known to all who come to the Capitol,” Pelosi said. “Women and girls — and that’s what I love about it — will know about her and that — her relentless fighting spirit. Patsy Mink made an enormous difference for women and girls in our nation.”
Many Americans don’t know about Mink’s championing of Title IX. “Women’s history is now more inclusive but there is still a tendency to celebrate the great white foremothers,” Wu said. “Sometimes Asian Americans are left out.”
Mink attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln before graduating with a B.A. in zoology and chemistry from the University of Hawai’i in 1948.
While attending Nebraska, she was forced to live in a segregated dorm. She formed the Unaffiliated Students of the University of Nebraska for students of color who were prohibited from joining fraternities and sororities and the group succeeded in changing the university’s housing policies.
Mink’s ambition was to become a doctor, but being a woman of color, she was denied entry to 20 medical schools. She turned her focus onto earning a law degree and graduated from the University of Chicago Law School. In 1951 she married John Francis Mink, a graduate student in geology at the university.
She started her own law practice and became a lecturer at the University of Hawai’i after facing discrimination in her attempts to join a law firm.
Mink won seats in the territorial senate before Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959. In 1964, she became the first Asian American woman to serve in Congress. She won re-election five consecutive times.
Mink fought for equal rights and was against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons. Her political leanings were steered by her background, Wu said.
“The society Mink grew up in was hierarchical in terms of class and race,” Wu said. “She experienced it in terms of gender. Those marginalizations shaped her desire to achieve equality.”
In 1976, Mink lost a bid for U.S. Senate. After serving as a member of the Honolulu City Council, she was re-elected to Congress in 1990 and served until her passing. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2014 by President Barack Obama.
Wu said Title IX increased gender equality, but it is not completely implemented the way Mink envisioned.
“There are still ongoing battles,” Mink had said. “There has been gender revolution, but it’s not complete. If we compared women’s lives from the ’60s and ’70s to now it would be drastically different. But again, it’s not complete.”
Shortly after Mink’s death in 2002, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA-43), paying tribute to her friend at a Congressional memorial, reflected on a WNBA game the two women had attended.
“It was just a few months ago that I sat at the WNBA All Star Game where Patsy was honored for her 30 years of work,” Waters said. “As I looked at all of those strong, tall women out there playing and my dear child, Lisa Leslie, who won the All-Star honor that evening, I thought it was a short, little woman that caused this tall, big woman to be able to realize her dreams, to be able to hone her talents. What a wonderful moment that was.”
This Article was supported by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library. 
Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540
Oakland Post: Week of December 21 – 28, 2022
Oakland Post: Week of December 14 – 21, 2022
Oakland Post: Week of December 7 – 13, 2022
Oakland Post: Week of November 30 – December 6, 2022
Racist Sentenced to Life in Prison for Buffalo Mass Killing of African Americans
PGA of America Offers Short-Term Employment Opportunities in Support of 2023 Major Championships through PGA JobMatch
Guaranteed Income Program for Pregnant Black Women Expands Services Across State
Lawsuit Alleges U.S. Government Discriminated Against Black Veterans for Decades
Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Onesimus. It is a name we don’t hear when we look at the history of vaccinations, but in the United States we owe a debt of gratitude to an African Slave named, Onesimus. In this video, voiced by writer and political activist, Baratunde Thurston, learn how Onesimus shared a traditional African inoculation technique that saved countless live from Smallpox and become the foundation for vaccine as we know them today, including the COVID Vaccine.