Who We Are
The Latino Center for Health (LCH) is a leading voice in current and emerging health issues affecting Latinx communities in the state of Washington. LCH is the only interdisciplinary health sciences research center in the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho) region with a singular focus on promoting Latino health.
What We Do
Through building capacity and authentic partnerships with researchers, policy-makers, community leaders, and other stakeholders, LCH provides leadership for community-engaged research aimed at promoting Latino health and addressing health inequities affecting Latinx communities in Washington state, regionally, and nationally.
Why It Matters
Latinos are the largest and among the fastest growing racial/ethnic groups in the state of Washington, composing over 13% of the state’s total population. In addition, Washington Latinos are impacted by a number of social and health-related inequities, including disproportionately higher rates of health uninsurance, poverty, and failure to complete high school, as well as lack of access to bilingual/bicultural providers, a hostile political environment for immigrants, and lack of affordable housing, among other concerns.
Given this situation, it is all the more important that we build trust and engage communities, form authentic relationships with stakeholders across sectors and disciplines, and leverage our collective resources to promote meaningful and sustainable improvements in the health and wellbeing of our urban and rural Latinx communities.