Library Outreach for Young Latinas at Risk

-- Críticas, 11/15/2007

In July 2006, New York City Spanish-language newspaper El diario/La prensa ran a special series on young Latinas at risk. The articles focused on a national U.S. Department of health and Human Services’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey conducted to examine dangerous behavior among high school students. The results were surprising: of the young Latinas that participated in the survey, 14.9 percent admitted to having attempted suicide, more than any other ethnic group. Consequently, the National Institute of Mental Health allocated $1.7 million for a five-year study to investigate those results. And earlier this fall, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene launched a poster campaign to help raise awareness and address the high rates of depression among young Latinas.

In its November 15 issue, Library Journal addresses the needs of young Latina library patrons in Beth Dempsey’s “Latinas in Need.” In dealing with young Latinas 12-17 years old, the article argues, librarians need to understand the different pressures daughters of immigrants endure, including that they often act as negotiators for their entire family and frequently care for younger siblings. In addition, one in four will have a child of their own before the age of 20. Dempsey notes that it is also vital to recognize that the methods used to reach immigrant Hispanic parents don’t always work with their daughters, as second-generation Latinas have their own needs.

For a list of online resources, read Loida García-Febo’s op-ed, Our Daughters.