Who We Are

Our Vision

Health and wellness for our Latina community

Our Mission

To sustainably improve the health and wellness of diverse Latina communities through:

  • Collective leadership

  • Trusting collaborative, multi-sector partnerships and alliances

  • A platform that honors all voices

  • Engaging historically marginalized communities

  • Amplifying the strengths of each Latina community

  • Transforming systems for inclusion

The Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19 (LATIN-19) is a multi-sector group representing academic institutions, healthcare systems, public health departments, public school systems, community-based organizations, government, faith communities, and others.

LATIN-19 was established to address health disparities within the Latina community as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our History

LATIN-19 was founded in March 2020 by Drs. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi and Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti to address health and wellness for the Latina community. The group held its initial meeting on March 18, 2020 and has continued to meet weekly to discuss the challenges, needs, and opportunities facing the Latina community. Our initial membership of 20 has quickly grown to over 1000.

LATIN-19 recognizes and amplifies the strength of the Latina community. Our platform honors all voices and facilitates safe spaces for expanded conversations about the mechanisms that disconnect and exclude the Hispanic/Latinx communities from the health care system and other critical resources. Decision-makers are able to hear concerns and stories directly from community members — data are shared, policies are explained, regulations are unpacked, and legal wording is clarified.

Our members then form committees and teams to address identified gaps and needs, and propose changes in systems and policies for promotion of health equity and the improvement of health and wellness within the Latina Community.

“LATIN-19 is a sounding board, a charla, a safe place to come and talk about the real challenges we are facing in our communities, with our patients, clients, students, families, etc., a space where connection is made and from those connections, real change happens. LATIN-19 faces inequity, systemic racism, and injustice head on in a way that feels honest and open, but without avoiding the hard conversations.”

— Anne Fields, MPH, MSW, LCSW, Clinical Social Worker