with Brenda Gonzalez

By Nathan J. Comp

Immigrants in America face a variety of challenges with regard to their health and well-being. Aside from the language, social, and cultural barriers they must deal with, their stories and struggles often go unreported in the media, which helps foster an even greater sense of alienation from the mainstream and from other immigrant populations. But the creators of New Routes to Community Health, a local Web site with a national scope, hope to change that.
The site, launched in early 2007, is a comprehensive media resource for immigrants nationwide. By offering an array of news, blogs, and commentary, New Routes is a one-stop information portal for immigrants who want to learn more about what's happening in their communities across America. Content comes from a variety of sources; but, beginning later this month, more immigrant-produced features will be showcased on the site.
Brenda Gonzalez, New Routes deputy director, says the features are the result of a large grant to establish projects in eight major cities that will deliver a broad range of immigrant-produced content. The cities in the grant are Boston, Chicago, the Twin Cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.
Gonzalez has been active in the community for years — especially around issues that concern Latinos. Among other things, she has been on the City of Madison Mayor to the Affirmative Action Commission, the Latino Health Council of Wisconsin, the Dane County Health Care Providers Interpreter Program, the Latino Support Network (LaSup), the Dane County Immunization Coalition, the Dane County Neighborhood Child Health Coalition, and the United Way Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee.
Gonzalez spoke to The Madison Times this week to talk about the Web site, its goals, and how the new features are a step closer to building healthy communities.

TMT: How did you get involved with New Routes?
BG: I was working for a local health organization when a few people thought [I should] start looking at a new position at New Routes. Someone said, 'I think you are a perfect candidate for that position.' So I applied, and a year and a half later, here I am. I'm the deputy director for New Routes to Community Health.

TMT: What kind of resource is it for immigrant communities?
BG: It's a new model for improving the health of immigrants in the United States, using media created by immigrants. It's a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Benson Foundation. We have eight immigrant-led collaborations across the United States that actually receive about a quarter million dollars over a three-year period to create locally focused media and outreach campaigns related to speaking directly [to] immigrants' health concerns at the community level.

TMT:What are some of the biggest health concerns facing immigrants?
BG: [Of] the eight collaborations that we do have, the grantees are made up of three [types of] organizations: immigrant groups, media makers, and community institutions. Each one of them has an immigrant group and is doing different media.
For example, the one in Boston is relating to the Haitian community [and] will address mental health issues within the Haitian community. Another example that I can give is the group in Philadelphia: It's working with immigrant Laotian and Vietnamese, telling stories on the radio to discuss the barriers faced by immigrant seniors related to health disparities.

TMT: Do immigrants produce all of the site's content?
BG: It's a mix of things on the Web site. We have news. We have tool kits that have been produced by anyone and everyone who wants to post on our Web site. It's not necessarily only content produced by immigrants; but by the end of the planning phase, we will see more content that is produced by immigrants and grantees posted on our Web site.
So by the end of September, you will be able to look at the first featured grantees with all of the media they have created, along with other related news and topics. What you see now is going to be revamped; we are actually inviting different immigrant groups to participate in our Web site.

TMT: What is the ultimate goal with the site?
BG: To create a model that helps communities understand [the] immigrant community; to have an easier way of understanding each other and helping each other achieve healthy outcomes throughout the community.