Ja n ua r y 2015

Vo lu me 2 , Iss ue 1
3

Website: www.mlhc.org E-mail: mlhcoalition@gmail.com Twitter: MLHC_WI

Happy New Year

MLHC members & community at large,

The MLHC was established seven years ago

with the mission to increase the health and
wellbeing of Latino communities by
organizing power for social change.
Throughout the years, the MLHC has
successfully brought together community
advocates and health professionals with the
vision
that
together
we
transform
communities to improve Latino health.

Last year we launched a new strategic plan

which focused our efforts on addressing the
lack of bilingual/bicultural health care in our
city. World caf sessions were held in January,
April, and September of last year with the
intention of identifying strategies that could
be implemented to improve access to
bilingual/bicultural care for Latinos in
Milwaukee. This year long planning process
culminated with a December meeting that
brought together community advocates and
professionals with the purpose of discussing
the creation of new Action Teams oriented in
the area of education and health care models.

This year we are excited to welcome two new

Action Teamsthe Education Action Team
and the Best Policies and Practices Action
Team. We truly thank everyone that was

Facebook: Milwaukee Latino Health Coalition

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

A letter from the Steering Committee
New Steering Committee members
December 2014 Meeting
Get involved/Save the date

1
2
2-5
6

instrumental in the development of these

Action Teams. The MLHC could not fulfill its
mission without the support from general
coalition members, action team members, and
community partners. Muchas gracias.

As we move forward in this new year, we invite

our general membership to support our
mission by joining an Action Team. We also
look forward to forging new partnerships as we
understand that collective action is necessary
for policy and systems level change to occur. In
particular, we look forward to strengthening
our partnership with Centro Hispano and look
forward to our collaboration on initiatives in
the near future.

Once again thank you for your continued

support and passion to improve the health and
wellbeing of Latino communities by organizing
power for social change.

Best,

2015 Steering Committee

Best Regards,

Page 2

The Steering Committee Welcomes New Members

Luis Arzaluz

Marwill Santiago

Luis was born in Toluca, Mexico. He graduated

from the University of South Carolina with a
Bachelors in Economics, and soon after
graduation moved to NYC where he worked in
health policy research at the Institute for Family
Health. There he focused on increasing access
to medical care for Medicaid patients.
Additionally, he has also worked at the health
care administration level in Washington DC
where he served as a program coordinator at a
24/7 medical facility for homeless men in
addictions recovery. Luis is currently a Trinity
Fellow at Marquette University completing a
Masters in Applied Financial Economics. In his
spare time he enjoys exploring Milwaukee as
he is new to city.

Although he was born in Puerto Rico and spent

periods of his youth on the island, he is proud
to call Milwaukee his hometown. As a young
college student at UW-Milwaukee studying
Political Science, he started working at
Milwaukee Area Technical College as a
bilingual educational assistant in a unique
program where students earned HSED's along
with a technical diplomas in Printing and
Publishing. Shortly after graduating from UWMilwaukee, an opportunity presented itself in
the college's Recruitment Department. Since
2007, he has been working with high school
students from all over the Milwaukee area as a
representative of the college to ensure
everyone understands the benefits of a postsecondary education at a technical college.
Recently, he has been assigned to work with
the School of Health Sciences to serve as a
point-of-contact for prospective students who
are interested starting a career as a health
service provider. I am excited to work with the
Milwaukee Latino Health Coalition in this
capacity to attract more Latinos and Latinas to
this profession.

On behalf of the MLHC we welcome you onboard!

Page 3

December 2014 Meeting

The MLHC held a meeting on December 11, 2014
with the purpose of discussing the creation of
two new Action Teams. The rationale to have this
September World Caf session where participants
discussion was based on the findings from the
chose two opportunities/strategies to help us
address the lack of bilingual/bicultural health care
in Milwaukee. These included:
1) Promote champions/models that provide
bilingual/bicultural care
2) Promote/mentor Latinos to pursue health
majors

The meeting began with a quick overview of the

yearlong strategic planning process which
highlighted the findings obtained from each World
Caf session.

Two discussion groups centered on the two pre-identified opportunities/strategies were formed and
individuals were asked to join the group of their choice. Each group was asked to discuss the
following:

Do we create an Action Team?

If so, discuss and develop Action Team goals and nominate Team Chairs.
Identify partners, who is missing?
How can MLHC facilitate this process?

A summary of each group discussion can be found on pages 4-5.

Page 4

Education Action Team

Discussion attendees:

Jennifer Flamboe, Alverno College

Marcia Villa, UCC

Sylvia Cortez, BHD Milwaukee Co

Al Castro, UCC

Xela Garcia, PAVE & Cientificas de Milwaukee

Marcela Garcia, Hayes Bilingual Elementary School & Cientificas de Milwaukee

Monica Lopez, Alianza

Marwill Santiago, MATC

Discussion summary:

Discussion of models that work in which students can provide services and do practicum at sites
where Latino population is served while agency is not burned by the demand of time and
resources for supervision. Model form Columbia Nursing College at UCC.

Discussion of possible activities an Education team could do:

o

Workshops

Presentations to young students

Speakers Bureau

Mentoring

Support to have the possibility for high school students to do CNA program while
finishing high school

Collaboration with pre- college programs

Collaboration with parents that need help to support their kids interested in college

Collaboration with organizations where high school students can provide hours of
service- example of students helping ALAS events

Tiers

Elementary
Middle School
High school
College

Players

Families
Students
Professionals
Employers

Preliminary goal for Action team: Identify connections to establish a calendar of events and
opportunities.

Chair: Jennifer Flamboe

Next meeting: Tuesday, February 17th from 4:30-6pm, location TBA

Page 5

Best Policies and Practice Action Team

Discussion attendees:

Marisa Curley, Sojourner Family Peace Center

Leslie Davis, Aurora Walker's Point Community Clinic

Caroline Gomez, Covering Kids & Families

Lona Long Velasco, CHWCS

Esperanza Magaa, Sixteeth Street Community Health Center

Noel Vizcarra, Public Allies

Discussion summary:
Role of the Coalition Action Team:
o Support innovative programs in the community.
o Mobilize for policy and systems level changes.
o Use the Coalition and Action Team for advocacy efforts.
o The name of the Action Team will be Best Practices & Policy Team (BPP).

There is a need to identify existing models of quality bilingual/bicultural care that work.
o Conduct an assessment to identify organizations & community efforts at the local
level.
o Conduct a literature search to identify models that have worked at the national
level (platicas, MOIs).

How are best practices defined?

o Develop basic standards for best practices that can be used to identify community
champions. This list can be disseminated through the use of the MLHC website.

Use the MLHC Action Team to disseminate models that work at the local level.
o Develop lunch & learns as a means to disseminate models that work.
o Using the findings from this assessment, develop a resource guide that can be
widely disseminated through the MLHC website.

Establish communication with other coalitions in the area (such as the Latino health
coalition in Madison) with the purpose of sharing ideas on how the Coalition Action
Team can function.

Pending Items:
o Identify Action Team Chair/s
o Set a date/time for the next Action Team Meeting

Page 6

Get Involved!
The MLHC is looking for individuals that are passionate about improving health in the Latino
community to join the Steering committee.
We are primarily interested in individuals with experience in:
Advancement & Finance
Health Systems Management
Media & Marketing
Policy & Law
Website Maintenance & Design
The Steering Committee meets the first Friday of every month at Centro Hispano (614 W.
National, Milwaukee, WI 53204) from 9:00-11:00am.

If you are interested in this opportunity please contact us at

mlhcoalition@gmail.com

Mark your calendars!

Please save the date for our next general membership meeting.
Date: Thursday, March 26, 2015
Time: 3:30pm-5:30pm
Location: Centro Hispano
614 W. National Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53204

Read our September 2014 Dashboard

FOLLOW US ONLINE

Contact Us! MLHCoalition@GMAIL.COM