¿Qué Pasa, Midwest?

En este episodio, host Judith Ruiz-Branch habló con Shammrie Brown, Senior Outreach Director of New Life Covenant Church Southeast, via the Tape A Call app. Hablaron sobre cómo los miembros de la iglesia continue to help la comunidad despite the coronavirus and unrest following the murder of George Floyd. In addition to supporting local catering companies by purchasing comida para los trabajadores esenciales and those in need, la iglesia also provides pruebas de COVID-19 gratis and other services to the community.

La canción para este episodio es, “No Estas Solo”, a collaboration from Carlos Vives and Ruben Blades, dedicado a todos los afectados por the coronavirus pandemic. Proceeds from the song will benefit two separate charities in Panama and Colombia.

Photos courtesy of New Life Covenant Church Southeast

En este episodio host Judith Ruiz-Branch habló con Dr. Marina Del-Rios, an emergency room doctor, assistant professor, and research coordinator, via an app called Tape a Call. They discussed the dire need for helpers in the medical field para Latinos en su comunidad, y Dr. Del-Rios shares las soluciones that she’s working on along with the Illinois Latino COVID-19 Initiative.

One of the main issues Dr. Del-Rios had to tackle was misinformation sobre el coronavirus due to la falta de reliable información confiable en español. IllinoisUnidos.com was the solution. The website provides reliable, user-friendly coronavirus information in English and Spanish. The Illinois Latino COVID-19 Initiative and the website also provide helpful resources for various other issues, such as housing, which have been amplified by the pandemic.

Our song for this episode was chosen by Dr. Del Rios - Hijos de Caña-veeeral by Residente - it’s one of her favorites. We hope you enjoyed. 

Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Del-Rios

En este episodio our new contributor, Karli Goldenberg, talks to Dr. Juan Carlos Caicedo via Zoom about how he challenges existing healthcare access and created the Northwestern Medicine Hispanic Transplant Program, a culturally competent transplant center dedicated to Latino patients.

“Entonces, tenemos varios centros en la nación donde están implementando este tipo de aproximación, que es muy sensible. Esto no es ciencia de cohetes y cosas intergalácticos o complicados, es entender una cultura, una idioma. Pero entendiendo, se puede tener un impacto muy grande.” -Dr. Juan Carlos

For more información bilingüe sobre los trasplantes de órganos, you can visit the Programa Hispano de Trasplantes website and Infórmate, a site created by Dr. Caicedo and Dr. Gordon para ofrecer más información sobre los trasplantes y el proceso de donación de órganos a lectores Latinos. 

Resources: 

The song for this episode es titulado “Vamos a Donar” by La Asociación Peruana de Autores y Compositores, a song created to increase visibility for organ donation in Peru.

Latinos are historically undercounted in the census, but an Illinois woman we met in Season 4 is determined to change that, despite the coronavirus. Dona Chuy, the long-standing community activist and volunteer in Chicago, continues her work to get Latinos counted for the 2020 Census. In this episodio, host Judith Ruiz-Branch talks to her about what changes she’s had to make due to the pandemic to get Latinos to fill out el Censo del 2020 before the new deadline, el 30 de septiembre.

Latinos count en el Censo del 2020

Escucha as Dona Chuy talks about how she’s had to adjust and how not even a pandemic could make her abandon her mission because in the grand scheme of things, every count still matters.

The song for this episode es titulado “Aguzate” by Ricardo Ray & Bobby Cruz. Judith chose la canción because it is one of their most known songs, and along with it showcasing their signature orchestra, the message is uplifting and inspires us to keep pushing and fighting for good. 

Photo Credit: Judith Ruiz-Branch

This season is about the coronavirus, but we aren’t sharing the latest statistics and news. Instead we set out (virtually) to find the helpers (like Mr. Rogers) in the Midwest.

Paola is working with regional and national collaborations to translate and share coronavirus información in Spanish across el medio oeste and the country. One of our contributors from Season 4, Judith Ruiz-Branch, will be our host for this season, and she will be joined by a new addition to the team, Karli Goldenberg. They found people who are finding soluciones a los problemas caused by the pandemic. Esperamos que sus soluciones can help others en el medio oeste and beyond find solutions and hope during this difficult time.

The song for this episode es titulado “You and Me” by Michel Camilo.

Photo Credit: Daniel Knight

Graphic Design: Mareea Thomas

Este es nuestro último episodio de la tempoarada, así que decidimos hablar acerca de la impostancia del voto.

Tu voto cuenta. Este año que viene mas personas de color van a ser elegibles para el voto que en años pasados. According to the Pew Research Center, the 2020 election will mark the first time that Hispanics will be the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the electorate. 

En terminos mas simples, a projected 32 million Hispanics and 30 million blacks will be eligible to vote in 2020. This increase is at least partially linked to inmigracion and naturalization. Por que one-in-ten eligible voters in the 2020 election will have been born outside the U.S.

Like for example Mayra Fortes. A Mexican born professor who recently became a citizen. Our collaborator Emily Hunsberger talked to her in Michigan about why she decided to become a US citizen.

Aqui una historia desde Chicago. Our collaborator Judith Ruiz-Branch talk about how Although Chicago is a very liberal city with a diverse population that breeds inclusividad, there are still some Latino families, many undocumented, that have completely disconnected themselves from the current political landscape. Whether it’s due to disinterest or fear, there are many reasons why they choose to remain invisible, even in a city like Chicago.

This episode comes from outside the Midwest pero decidimos hacerlo because everything that happens at the US-Mexico border affects the entire country, incluyendo el medio oeste.

Por ejemplo, in an interview with National Geographic the attorney who heads Defenders of Wildlife conservation programs, said that “Whatever they build, it’s going to be destructive to natural habitat.” Tambien, with Mexico being the third-largest trading partner of the United States many fear that this could create a trade war, and stories of farmers forced to let crops rot due to labor shortages have become more common. So, Yes, what happens at the border affects the Midwest.