The Center for Health Journalism has teamed with eight ethnic media organizations in California to report together on health equity, community well-being and gaps in health care in a unique collaborative learning effort.
In 2022, Father’s Table Mission Church built the Victorville healing center, costing about $650,000 at the time, with the help of church members, supporters, and benefactors. The church uses the facility to help rehabilitate and rebuild the lives of the homeless.
Father Yohan Kim, 68, a priest at St. James Episcopal Church, rented a house in the mid-2010s and began living with 16 Korean-American homeless people. Since then, Father Kim has provided food and shelter to more than 150 people. His church members and devotees are supportive of his efforts, but he hasn’t received any funding from the government including the city of Los Angeles.
Disadvantaged by language barriers and immigration restrictions, unhoused Korean Americans are in the "blind spot" of resources and organizations. Korean American homeless shelters often do not receive government funding because they are not officially registered. As a result, they rely on donations from the Korean-American community and the support of a handful of volunteers.
Mixing systemic racism, low wages, unemployment and resulting poverty is a troubling recipe for long-term – in many cases generational – food insecurity. Armed with the knowledge that food insecurity can lead to poor outcomes and impact the community’s overall health and well-being, Black organizations have taken the lead in addressing the multi-layered issue.
The suicide rate for Latino men has increased since 2011 climbing from 5.7 per 100,000 people to an alarming 7.9 per 100,000 in 2021. Cultural expectations prevent Latino men from talking openly about their mental health. Experts call it a silent crisis.
When Chinese parents prioritize traditional values and academic success at the expense of emotional and psychological well-being, their children grapple with stress and heightened expectations.
Cambodian and Khmer people remain largely excluded from studies, policy making processes, public messaging, and journalism because of the lack of disaggregated data highlighting their experiences. Erika Mey, born to parents who fled Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge genocide, is working to disaggregate data to understand the realities of Cambodian and Khmer people and to acknowledge their trauma.
A roundtable discussion, hosted by Korea Daily, brought out generational divides between first-generation immigrant parents and second-generation youth. Contrasting values centered around academic pressure, independence and cultural expectations.
The emphasis on success adopted by Korean American parents puts undue pressure on children to excel academically, leading to increased stress, depression and strained parent-child relationships. Strict parenting styles, and expectations of academic success, rooted in traditional Korean values, often clash with the more individualistic approaches prevalent in the U.S.
