ANDARES is working in the OHA ‘Protecting Oregon Farmworkers’ program. As part of our participation in the program, we are supporting farmworkers and their families access health insurance, medical appointments, and any services or supports they may need.

To do this, our team of community health workers-Marlin, Lupita, and Marly-visit farms in Benton, Linn, and Lane Counties, and establish one-on-one connections with farmers and workers. Examples of the help we have provided include connecting people to organizations that help with paying rent and utilities, helping people obtain health insurance through the Oregon Health Plan and the marketplace, helping people make medical appointments, access clothes and food, and translate mail that people receive but cannot read.

We are proud of the farmworker community and are grateful to those to support us in this endeavor, including the farmers who open the doors for our team, the health departments, and many more!

With the support of a Policy and System Change grant from the Linn Benton Lincoln Health Equity Alliance, we are implementing the project ‘Resilient Communities’ / ‘Comunidades Resilientes’. This project is based the assumption that people and communities have an inherent capacity to withstand adversity and to overcome challenges, but that there is much that can be done to strengthen that capacity.

Through culturally appropriate methodologies, we are approaching resilience holistically, focusing on learning about rights and civics, emotional support, and developing competencies and skills. As part of this approach, we are offering activities such as Know Your Rights workshops, trainings to create family plans, computer classes, trainings on taxes, and activities to develop in people tools for self-care.

The holistic approach we are taking can only be possible because of the many partnerships and collaborations we have with agencies and organizations in Linn, Benton, Lincoln, and throughout Oregon. An interconnected community can accomplish anything!

With the support from NW Oregon Works we are facilitating access to the employment-related services and opportunities offered through WorkSource Oregon and its centers in Benton and Lincoln Counties. In Benton County, we are focusing our work in Corvallis, Philomath and Monroe, and in Lincoln Counties in Newport and Lincoln City. Our strategies include guided tours and different kinds of educational activities to increase preparedness for employment. Read here a note on this project.

With the support of the Oregon Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission, ANDARES is working with youth and families in eliciting experiences, values, attitudes, and policy recommendations regarding alcohol and drug use. To do this, we are following a participatory action research approach that uses art as a form of expression, accompanied by group conversations on the meanings behind the art pieces, and by presentations on key topics related to alcohol and drug use. We are doing this project in the city of Albany, Linn County.

As part of our strategic effort to work in rural communities where the Latinx immigrant population encounters barriers to access resources, we are working in Harrisburg, Linn County, on projects related to strengthening a sense of community through group conversations around food and other forms of cultural and artistic expression. Through these conversations, people recognize and celebrate their own skills, values, and strengths in general, as well as identify areas in the community that present opportunities for improvement. We are supported in this work by Linn County Public Health.

ANDARES is implementing a micro-enterprise incubator for the Latinx community in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties. The incubator has the goal of supporting entrepreneurs through learning resources as they take the first steps necessary to create a business. In this work we collaborate closely with the LBCC Small Business Development Center. As part of this project, we supported the Las Doñas del Sur Collective in their successful application to the City of Corvallis South Corvallis Food Hub grant.

As part of our work in Harrisburg, OR, we are developing an innovative program to connect the local Latinx community to the system of resources. In a group setting, we facilitate conversations leading to describing the community, identifying strengths, and jointly determining the resources that are needed. The group then coordinates with organizations to bring those resources to the community. This project is funded through a Delivery System Transformation (DST) pilot project grant from IHN-CCO.

DescripIn Linn and Benton Counties, local gleaning programs are underutilized by populations that qualify for their services. To address this, Vina Moses Center invited ANDARES to collaborate and establish a group of Vina Moses clients who would volunteer with the Mary’s River Gleaners.

During 6 bi-weekly meetings, the project coordinator Keiri Lopez Rosel and community health worker Marlin Perez, with the assistance of outreach specialist Damaris Hernandez, worked with eleven community members to create a community around food security, develop an action plan, and learn about gleaning in the Marys Rivers Gleaners watershed. The project was highly successful, as shown by the participants’ expression in the image below.tion goes here

With funding from the Oregon Health Authority, the Linn Benton Lincoln Health Equity Alliance has contracted ANDARES to participate in the Intergenerational Tobacco Prevention Project. The goal of the project is to establish a youth council that will develop awareness and socialize information among peers on harmful effects of smoking and vaping.

For this purpose we have recruited six youth from Benton and Linn Counties, who have already participated in two Council meetings. Next, the group will engage in prevention activities in their communities. This exciting project, together with the youth council we established in Harrisburg, develops leadership capacity in the Latino youth.

DescWe started in January of this year a new project: Engaging People in Reflection, Action Planning, and Implementation. Following the asset community mapping model we developed in our Harrisburg (Linn County) project, and which we replicated already in the food security project we did in partnership with the Vina Moses Center, we are now engaging with the Mam community to create maps representing their own understanding of strengths and areas of concern. Working in partnership with the Iglesia de Dios , the group has already identified the need to learn English and home finances, as well as have access to dental health services and to have the Guatemalan Consulate visit Corvallis.

Based on this, ANDARES is already offering English classes, will start in finances classes in September, and is coordinating bringing the mobile dental clinic and the Guatemalan Consulate to Corvallis. Importantly, the group of participants remains engaged in the actual implementation of the projects they identified as needed.

We are immensely grateful to IHN-CCO for providing us a Community Benefits Initiative Grant to support this project.