Promoting Health and Academic Wellness among Latino Youth and Families: The Si Se Puede Project

Although Latinos represent the largest and fastest growing adolescent population, there are few culturally relevant interventions that address their health and academic well-being. Current research indicates that Latino youth experience higher rates of overweight and obesity, type II diabetes, depression, and suicide ideation when compared with all other racial/ethnic groups. The Youth Empowerment for Success YES! Si Se Puede Program housed in Long Beach, California is a collaborative effort of the NCLR/CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Hamilton Middle School and the YMCA. The Si Se Puede program is designed to create a youth-centered, family based empowerment program to enhance academic performance, intention to attend college, and physical and mental well-being among Latino students in a low performing middle school in the Long Beach Unified School District. The program combines tutoring and mentorship, digital media training, exercise, monthly university campus visits, and a one-month university summer and sports camp experience to achieve changes in academic and physical fitness performance as well as mental health and overall well-being. Workshops are provided to both students and families on topics such as: self-esteem and mental health, violence prevention, race relations, career development, nutrition, sexual health, and cultural appreciation. Results from pre-intervention and post-intervention data as well as six-month follow-up surveys will be presented and indicators of academic performance, body composition, depression and changes in well-being discussed among participants from the cohorts of the first two years of the project (n=68). Furthermore, strategies regarding involvement of Latino families in school-based programs will be presented.