TAMPA - If communication between teenagers and parents weren't hard enough, imagine that they speak different languages, and grew up in different countries.
That's just one of the challenges facing some Latino immigrant families. Now add the rising cases of HIV and AIDS among Hispanic youth and gang problems. The Florida Institute for Community Studies Inc. has sought solutions for several years.
On Tuesday, it was given a large boost by the federal government through a $1-million check from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The four-year grant will be used to help prevent HIV-AIDS and substance abuse among Latinos in Town 'N Country.
The grant will help with FICS' Proyecto Prevencion, or Project Prevention, which has surveyed more than 200 youths and adults to help identify strengths and risky behaviors within Hillsborough Latin-American communities. Founder and director Alayne Unterberger and her staff and volunteers focused on Town 'N Country, Wimauma, Ruskin, Dover and Plant City.
Among their research findings: A third of the teens don't remember getting any HIV prevention or sex education; a rate of HIV and AIDS cases among Hispanics in the Town 'N Country ZIP codes that's five times greater than elsewhere in the county; and a communication barrier between youths and parents based not just on a generation gap, but culture and language gaps, too.
"It was like two world views never met," Unterberger said.
The project already has led to community festivals and a youth council called the TC Nenas, or the Town 'N Country Ladies.
Nancy Ruiz, 13, an eighth-grader at Roland Park Elementary and president of the council, said the girls' families came from various countries, but the girls have at least one thing in common: "We found out we really want to help our community," she said.
