LJ Series "PatronSpeak": Latinas In Need

In the summer of 2006, the New York City–based Spanish-language newspaper La Prensa ran a series of articles on the surprisingly stressful life of the young Latina in America. The series brought to light grim statistics uncovered in the academic community that had largely escaped the mainstream. Namely, young Latinas—ages 12–17—are more likely to attempt suicide than any other ethnic group. While La Prensa, and later the New York Times and others, cited a federal study that showed one in six Latinas had attempted suicide—one and a half times the rate of their non-Hispanic counterparts—other research, including a study from Fordham University, put the figure at 20 percent.

Still other statistics point to young Latinas being at greater risk for lives of struggle. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Latinas are at disproportionate risk for HIV/AIDS, and within the Hispanic community, the rate among women is growing. This is further complicated by limited access to health care—Latino/as are less likely to be covered by health insurance than either African Americans or whites. Child Trends, an independent social studies research center, reports that 30 percent of Hispanic children are not covered by health insurance. Latinas are also less likely to finish high school than their African American or white counterparts. One-quarter will drop out, putting them at significant risk for lifelong poverty but also distancing them from an important community partner, the library, one that can act as a safety net, distribute information, and provide options for better lives.

The findings provide a wake-up call to librarians about the complex needs of this largely misunderstood and conflicted group. Though statistics don't speak for an entire generation of Latinas or the individuals within a library's community, there's evidence that a significant segment of young Hispanic women are in desperate need of library outreach. As part of a larger community initiative, libraries can improve their odds for successful lives.

At the surface, this may seem an issue for youth services, but addressing it requires coordinated effort with adult services.

Advocates for Youth, a Washington, DC–based nonprofit that studies and advises on youth health issues, notes that a “complex interaction of factors” affects the lives of young Latinas. For example, Latinos are disproportionately impacted by poverty: estimates of Hispanic families living at or below the poverty level hover around 25 percent. Further, about 40 percent of the entire Latino population was born outside of the United States. The daughters in these families, whose English skills are honed at school, often serve as cultural liaisons for parents whose struggle to navigate a new country is hampered by a language barrier.

“The children of immigrants and non-English speakers have so many responsibilities,” says Roxana Benavides, library information supervisor at Brooklyn Public Library's Sunset Park Branch and a past president of REFORMA, the National Association To Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking. “The children have the language skills, so serious decisions—not just translation—are coming to them. If there's a problem with rent, or at school, or a bill, they're the negotiators. If the parents have no English skills, they're probably working long hours—ten, 12, even 14 hours a day. The older children are then responsible for caring for younger siblings.”

Young Latinas may also be caring for children of their own—according to the New York Times, one in four will have a child before the age of 20.

Layered upon weighty family responsibilities is a clash of cultures that can leave Latinas square in the middle. Luis H. Zayas, professor of social work and psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and director of the Center for Latino Family Research in St. Louis, is in the midst of a five-year study into Latina suicide. He says that young Latinas often grapple with the conflict of trying to be young Americans while staying true to their families and cultural identities.

In a report on the state of adolescent Latina health, Advocates for Youth explains, “Bicultural Latina teens may seek to assert their independence—arousing conflict with many parents' traditional cultural values of interdependence and cooperation. If traditional parents try to impose their values on their children, bicultural Latina youth may feel increasingly alienated. Culturally based tension between Latino youth and their parents may strain the parent-child relationship and lessen the potential for open communication.” Rosie Molinary, author of Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina (Seal Pr., 2007), puts it simply: the children of new immigrants “bring America home,” but their parents may not want that guest.

Zayas says when these pressures of a dual-culture identity get mixed with family crises such as poverty or dysfunctional relationships, the results can be a toxic cocktail, with a frightening number of teens attempting suicide as an escape. He describes the attempts as evidence of a desperate need for help in coping with a life these young women see as filled with conflict. “They really don't want to die. Attempts are seldom done when they're alone, and they're often not lethal,” he says. However, because the parents often don't recognize the suicide attempt as a cry for help, communitywide response is needed.

New York City is taking steps to destigmatize depression among its young Latina residents. A new program from the Department of Health reaches out to Latinas via community groups—everywhere from schools to beauty shops—encouraging them to talk about their feelings and ask for help rather than keeping their troubles to themselves.

So, what can librarians do? Zayas says that to impact the statistics, to make a difference for young at-risk Latinas—disadvantaged and especially those with immigrant or non-English-speaking parents—middle school age and younger girls need to be armed with a broader perspective of options and paths.

Benavides, who was born and raised in El Salvador, says reaching the entire family is essential to reaching the young Latina. “Our culture is not about the individual. It is about the family,” she says. While teenagers may not readily admit it, “the parents are so important.”

To wit, the Fordham University study found that suicide attempters tend to lack good coping skills and that the development of those skills was connected to healthy relationships with mothers. Zayas explains that the mother-daughter connection is critical because it's the gateway to fathers, too. Mothers translate the feelings of the father.

“If we want to connect with young Latinas, then the library must be a part of the parents' everyday lives,” says Elva Garza, manager of the St. John branch of the Austin Public Library (APL), TX. She meets parents by attending school meetings and coffees at the local schools and also hangs out at school dismissal when moms gather to walk their children home. Likewise, Benavides attends PTA meetings. Of course, as they both acknowledge, these efforts connect them with the moms who are already involved, but, they point out, those women are opinion leaders, and their influence will elevate the library's presence throughout the community. “In every setting, I always look for the formal leader of the group and the informal leaders,” says Benavides. She finds English speakers are important liaisons to larger Latina groups because they often translate for others.

Though getting wired into the entire web of community and social groups is best, Garza and Benavides rank schools as the most important partner organizations, with churches a close second, where librarians can collaborate on educational programs or events aimed at library card registrations. Zayas agrees and also suggests visiting free clinics, bringing books that can occupy parents and children while they wait to be seen. He sees this as a particularly good way to meet families of undocumented workers, who may not have an established social network in the community, and connect with fathers, who often have the longest work hours in the family. The APL runs story times at its local clinics and has found that programming to be effective in introducing the library to new community members.

Benavides says getting outside the walls of the library is essential for reaching Latino adults, especially new immigrants. “We can't wait for them to come to us, because they won't. They don't understand the structure of the public library here. You have to go out to them and teach them what the library is about,” she says. She points to the numbers of Hispanics who have emigrated from countries that don't have free public libraries. The concept of a library that's open to anyone and serves everyone may be entirely new.

Remembering the Latino culture of “family first” can help libraries build effective pitches to adults whose time is already stretched. Suggesting a Latina mom spend an hour in an ESL class when she could be spending that time with her family is likely not productive. However, Benavides says, explaining to her how an ESL class can benefit her children strikes an entirely different chord. “They are working for their kids, and that's the context you have to put this in. 'You will be able to help your children with schoolwork' takes it out of the context of the individual and puts it in the context of the family,” says Benavides.

Garza's St. John Branch has developed programs that do exactly that for parents. Working in partnership with the school, the library brings parents in for crash courses in what their children are learning. “I have the parents doing the same science experiments in the library as their kids are doing in class,” says Garza. Further, they train parents before teacher conferences, helping with questions to ask teachers so they can help their kids at home.

“A lot of these parents are working in kitchens and cleaning houses, and sometimes it's hard for them to realize that their children can be college graduates someday. We must convince our parents, so we can convince our Latinas,” says Garza. The strategy is on target with Zayas's research, which shows that suicide attempters are more likely to be from families with low educational aspirations for their children.

Garza's library organizes trips for adults to visit local colleges, helping them build a picture of success. Often, however, the programming is as simple as talking with parents at every opportunity and reminding them to believe, sharing stories of success that are relevant to their lives.

Connecting with parents doesn't guarantee success in reaching their young daughters. “The biggest mistake I see organizations make is assuming they know what Latinas want,” says Salvador Avila, manager of the Enterprise Library, a branch of Las Vegas–Clark County Library District, NV. In addition to branch management, Avila is principal of MAS Consulting, a group that helps libraries better connect with Spanish-speaking patrons. “You have to really know these girls...know the music they're listening to, what's important to them. You can't assume that because you have books in Spanish you're serving them.” Avila says that although Latino/as tend to hang on to their cultural characteristics, the differences between first- and second-generation Hispanic Americans is striking. “You might have the right message for the first generation, but it could be wrong for the second generation.”

Libraries with thriving teen and preteen programs consistently cite the key to their success as serving social needs first. These libraries understand and, more importantly, respect the library as a place for teens to meet friends. Brooklyn's Sunset Branch has created a program called “Teen Time” that allows teens to meet their peers in their own room. “We advertise the fun parts—see your friends, play board games and PlayStation. They don't want extended school hours, so we don't make it obvious that we're promoting reading,” says Benavides. “But once we have them, we have them, and we can sneak in a little [Reading Is Fundamental].”

Once the Latinas are in the library, these librarians make a point to get to know them and surround them with positive and empowering messages. “Take every opportunity to talk with them,” advises Garza.

Joanna Nigrelli, teen librarian at Austin's Terrazas Branch, says librarians can be cheerleaders for young Latinas' successes and dreams. She tells the story of a teen who announced that she was running for student council vice president. “We were thrilled and told her 'we'll hang your campaign posters here in the library.'” The teen confided to Nigrelli that she had been unsure about pursuing the campaign because she thought it was a position for white people. “This is a great student and a perfect candidate, but she wasn't sure that the opportunity was open to her.” Nigrelli and her colleagues convinced her of her skills and assets, and the teen ultimately launched her campaign.

Avila says to remember silent clues, too. He hangs college pennants in his library to remind Latinas of their options. “You can't hang a 'Read' poster around these kids. It just feels like a lecture to them. But they'll never forget those pennants. They'll never forget that you believe they can go to college,” he says.

Avila likes to encircle the Latinas in his library with success stories that are relevant to their lives. Through books, videos, and, perhaps most powerful, conversations, he tells them about Latinas who have leading roles in business, education, medicine, science, and technology. Zayas recommends exposing Latinas to role models and suggests librarians work with a Latina college student when they conduct outreach to adults. It allows them to visualize the success path for their own daughters. Zayas also suggests connecting middle school girls with Latina college students.

Empowerment by spotlighting everyday heroes is an important element of a unique APL outreach program. In collaboration with the Gardner/Betts Juvenile Justice Center, the library opened a branch in the center devoted solely to serving its young detainees. Outreach coordinator Devo Carpenter conceived of the program—called Second Chance Books—after meeting a probation officer and learning about the pitiful selection of books available to the kids. “They had a handful of Barbara Cartland novels and a 'how to' for surviving prostate cancer,” she says.

Carpenter coordinated efforts to stock high-interest books for teens, developing a bona fide library. Shortly after, she began an outreach program, organizing author visits and running book discussion groups that allow kids to explore important issues through characters in novels. She often works with groups of young Latinas. “I only select books that are issue-based—things that are real and important—and they must be empowering,” she said. The books often tell stories of young women in difficult, sometimes desperate, situations who successfully resolve problems through their own resourcefulness. Carpenter says while the books may cover painful territory, they provide models of courage and alternative paths for the Latinas in her groups.

Zayas also recommends this type of strength-based approach for helping troubled Latinas. “Finding themselves in books can awaken their curiosity,” he says.

Carpenter advises that while kids may see themselves in the books chosen for group discussions, she's careful not to engage in personal conversations. “Literature opens them up, but we have to be careful not to overstep the bounds of our expertise,” she says. She works closely with social workers so that she can quickly direct appropriate resources to girls who need them.

The number of teenage Latina moms points to another reason for adult services involvement: teen and YA sections of libraries tend to lose these girls once they have children. “I see the girls throughout their pregnancy, but once they have their babies, they just seem to disappear,” says Nigrelli.

Clearly, these young women are straddling the youth and adult worlds. Where do they fit in? If the teen sections seem too distant to these young women, then it's up to adult services to reach out. The stakes are high, for if we're losing these Latinas in the library, we could be losing them at school, too.

It's essential to remember that though they're young, these are mothers, and any program aimed at bringing them into the library must welcome their children, too. These moms are devoted. Studies reported by Child Trends show that Latinas are least likely to smoke during their pregnancies or deliver low-birth-weight babies. They also have the lowest rate of infant mortality as compared with African American or white women. Further, despite Hispanics having the least access to health insurance, Latinas have had steadily increasing rates of prenatal and postnatal care.

The successful Latina programs at work already in the teen section could be reshaped to target young Latina moms via adult services. Consider Teen Time at the Sunset Branch as a model of connecting teens in their own space: Could a similar program allow young moms and kids to be together in a more adult setting? Or, like the Second Chance Books model, a young mom book discussion group—with available child care—could help participants find empowerment through book characters like themselves. Discussion circles about early childhood topics could allow librarians to put the programs in the context of family rather than the individual.

However, these program suggestions are no more than guesswork unless they're tested against feedback from the community. Advocates for Youth, in its recommendations for developing programs for Latina adolescents, stresses connecting with those who will be served: “The best way to reach a community is by working with the community. Invite Latino youth, parents, schools, churches, and community-based organizations to participate in designing and implementing the program—from the very beginning. These partners can contribute significantly to developing a culturally appropriate and powerful program. Moreover, they will share a sense of ownership as the program develops.”

No librarian interviewed for this article found working with teens easy. In fact, most confided a variety of daunting hurdles and problems. However, all spoke of a deep sense of fulfillment that harkened to what inspired them to become librarians in the first place: the ability to improve lives. Indeed, Zayas points to the library as a unique common ground for Latino parents and daughters straining to understand each other. Parents respect the library for its emphasis on books and education, while their daughters relish space to meet with their peers.

Zayas also points out that the time for all community groups to act is now, with a focus on improving the odds for middle school and younger Latinas. Reaching them while they're young may mean creating an entire generation of library users who can envision success for themselves and their families. It also means an opportunity to create library programs with real meaning—programs that help young Latinas put a voice to the unique culture they're defining through their parents and their American life.