For All Seasons Expands Latino Outreach & Education Program

EASTON, MD – For All Seasons provides bi-lingual education and outreach programming for populations across the Mid Shore with a focus on high-need areas. Through its Latino Support Groups, Our Voices, For All Seasons is serving and strengthening Latino families by building healthy communities and reducing disparities.

According to Ivy Garcia, Director of Latino Outreach and Education, “The Latino community has really grown here. Although they feel that this is a safe community, there are not many places where they can talk about their needs and concerns. The support groups enable For All Seasons to be a bridge to mental health services for the Latino community.”

The support groups help promote a variety of mechanisms for networking, collaboration and information exchange, enabling participants to work together and be better informed. The educational component of the support group encompasses evidence-based curriculums and activities emphasizing healthy relationships, self-esteem, self-awareness, life-skills, and self-care. Groups are offered weekly for men, women, and adolescent girls. Meaningful topics are addressed including the challenges of assimilating to a dual-cultural life and ways to reinforce a sense of pride and connection with the Latino culture. All workshops are facilitated in a relational, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and culturally competent manner.

Since September 1, the Girls Latina Support Group has been meeting after school on Mondays from 3:30 to 5 p.m. The group is for girls ages 13 to 17 and has covered such topics as healthy relationships, self-esteem, drug prevention, and sexual assault and human trafficking awareness. Activities have included jewelry making and stone painting.

Garcia, who facilitates the Girl’s Support Group, states, “Girls learn about the power within and the ways in which they can lead the direction of their lives, in addition to valuable skills that assist them in exploring the impact of the values, norms, and beliefs that shape them, especially those that present barriers.” She adds, “The girls want to learn and want to involve their parents in learning to adapt culturally. This has helped to grow our support groups for men and women, which follow the Girls Latina Support Groups on Monday and Wednesday evenings.”

The Men’s Latino Support Group is for men ages 18 years and older on Mondays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at For All Seasons offices at 300 Talbot Street in Easton. The support group is led by For All Seasons Lead Interpreter, Alberto Ardaya. Two Women’s Latina Support Groups for women ages 18 years and older are led by Ivy Garcia. One is held on Monday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at For All Seasons offices at 300 Talbot Street in Easton, and the other is held on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at Sudlersville Elementary School. All support groups are free.

For more information or to register for these support groups, call 410-822-1018, extension 207 or text 443-786-4947.

For All Seasons serves Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne, and Talbot counties. For All Seasons Rape Crisis Center offers certified sexual assault victim advocates; counseling and support groups, free and confidential services in English and Spanish, support in the hospital, police department, and court, and referrals to social and legal services. For All Seasons English Hotline is 1-800-310-RAPE (7273) and Spanish Hotline is 410-829-6143.