Progreso Latino Inc. (Central Falls, RI) was established in 1977 and is Rhode Island’s largest Latino non-profit, community-based organization. It houses the following mutually supportive and coordinated programs: Senior Citizen, Youth, Wellness and provides Social services, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), GED, citizenship classes and has a bi-lingual preschool.

The community that Progreso Latino (PL) serves faces health disparities as a result of poverty, limited access to health care, and behavioral risk factors. Lifestyle patterns such as unhealthy eating, lack of exercise, and few doctor visits, combined with genetic predispositions render the Rhode Island Latino population vulnerable to diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

Though access to care continues to present barriers to preventative care, oftentimes, clients will miss out on free services such as screenings and vaccinations due to lack of information or cultural perceptions of health. PL works hard to reach out to this underserved population to increase awareness of free preventative measures such as exercise and screenings by bringing these services to Central Falls.

Additionally, Progreso Latino uses culturally competent means of discussing sensitive health issues in order to promote healthy lifestyles in a way that respects cultural conceptions of health. The Community Centered Family Health History toolkit would complement these efforts by heightening awareness and discussion of genetic diseases (thereby increasing prevention) by extending education efforts to ESOL classes and the Youth program, areas that have traditionally been less involved in Progreso Latino health initiatives. The collaboration needed for generating family health histories for the Community Centered Family Health History Program will bring together the various age groups that PL serves, increasing both social interaction and the sharing of knowledge. This increased education will, in turn, complement prevention efforts and increase participation in existing prevention measures.

For this project, PL plans to work with participants in its existing programs to incorporate the toolkit. The toolkit will be integrated as an ESOL tool in Adult Education classes and as part of the Seniors’ program. Through classes provided to adults and seniors, Progreso Latino will use the toolkit to provide education about genetic diseases, provide referrals for screenings, and follow up with participants to measure their success in dialoguing with family and friends about genetic diseases.

The program will inform approximately 300 people about genetic diseases. The diseases that this project will focus on are high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes since they affect Latinos the most.

Once the tool kit is adapted and approved, Progreso Latino plans to:

The project will culminate with a presentation of a community play based on the information learned. It will bring awareness about genetic diseases that affect the Latino community.