Integración Familiar: Construyendo Hogares Felices
Broadcasting understanding

    By Jonathan Gramling

    One of the most important developments to occur in Dane County’s Latino community over the past 15 years has been the evolution of LaSup and its
offshoots such as the Latino Health Council and the Latino Children and Family Council. Through these organizations Latino, health and human service
professionals — predominantly Latino, but open to all who work on issues of concern to the Latino community — come together to collaborate on events and
projects designed to uplift the health and social well-being of the Latino community.
    One thing that makes these organizations effective is that their members are willing to meet people where they are at instead of expecting the people to
meet them at their time and place.
    Events like the Latino Health Fairs and Día de los Niños have been hugely successful in attracting thousands of Latino families to learn about community
services and resources. But event organizers knew they weren’t reaching everyone.
    “In a lot of Latino families, many women and men have different schedules to work, said Teresa Tellez Giron, the chair of the media committee for the Latino
Children and Families Council. “Many women stay home to take care of their children. Day care providers stay home and are taking care of children. Some
community programs are wonderful. We wanted to reach those people who are not going out there to the neighborhoods to get education and information about
programs.”
     About two years ago, Tellez-Giron received free air time from La Movida, the Spanish language radio station, to occasionally host a program during which
children and families issues were addressed on the radio. The response they received from their listeners was very favorable. So Tellez-Giron and her committee
sought funding from MG&E to run the program once per month. They named the program “Integración Familiar: Construyendo Hogares Felices, or in English,
Family Integration: Building Happy Families. The response was great and the media committee was able to attract additional funding from The Capital Times’   
Kids Fund and United Way to expand the format to 2-3 times per month, 9-11 a.m. on Tuesdays.
    On this particular Tuesday, Tellez-Giron was joined by Juan Carlos, Claudia Guzman, Lupita Montoto, Diego Campoverde and Fabiola Hamdan to talk about
child abuse, the reporting system and what happens when the children fall into the system. Hamdan and Carlos were the moderators as the other three weighed
in on the issue, with the entire two hours conducted in Spanish. Information was provided as audience members called up with questions. The discussion was
lively and the two hours flew by quickly.
    Tellez-Giron has already set up the schedule for the rest of the year. She targeted community services that may be of value to the Latino community — but
didn’t have a strong track record of interfacing with the Latino community — and invited them to make a presentation on Integración Familiar. She hopes that
not only will these presentations inform Latino families about the resources that are out there, but also help these programs and services bond more closely with
the Latino community.
    So far, Tellez-Giron is happy with the results she has seen. They have begun to incorporate children into the program and would like to expand the program
to an evening format so they can reach Latino parents who may work a different shift. “It’s a wonderful program,” Tellez-Giron exclaimed. There is a saying that
says “If Mohammed cannot come to the mountain, then bring the mountain to Mohammed.” And that is exactly what the Latino Children and Family Council is
doing for the benefit of the Latino community and the community at large.
    For more information about the Latino Children and Family Council, call Teresa Tellez-Giron at 261-9923.
Right: Teresa Tellez Giron (l-r), Juan
Carlos, Claudia Guzman, Lupita Montoto,
Diego Campoverde and Fabiola Hamdan
appeared on Integracion Familiar. Left:
Teresa Tellez-Giron talks about child
protective services.