Latinas Targeted in Project Warning of Alcohol Abuse

WHITTIER — The day before, Ana’s husband came home drunk again, this time ruining their daughter’s birthday party.

“Mother, that man makes me so mad,” Ana said in Spanish.

“Calm down, m’ija (my daughter),” the mother said. “That’s just the way men are. . . . I had to put up with the same thing from your father.”

“But it’s not fair that we’re treated this way,” Ana said.

“Better not provoke him,” the mother warned. “Remember that he’s a hard worker and a good provider.”

Gloria Moreno-Wycoff wants to help Ana and her mother.

Moreno-Wycoff is director of Proyecto AASUL, the first state-funded program to educate Latinas about the dangers of alcohol abuse. One way she hopes to do that is through Ana and her mother, two characters in a Spanish-language fotonovela , or photographic novel, that concludes with Ana seeking counseling from Alcoholics Anonymous.

“We’re targeting the woman who feels she has no resources, the woman who has nowhere to turn,” Moreno-Wycoff said. For the Latina immigrant, “the cultural and generational contrasts (of life in the United States) are incredible.”

Proyecto AASUL stands for Assistance with Alcohol and Sobriety Uniting Latinas. The acronym is pronounced like the Spanish word for blue, azul , and the program’s logo is printed in blue and white.

The state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs is spending $60,000 on the two-year project, which also includes televised public service announcements, an informational brochure both in English and Spanish, the fotonovela and an educational conference in October at Rio Hondo College in Whittier.

The brochures have been printed and the fotonovela is in production. Moreno-Wycoff is awaiting state approval on the public service announcements that feature spokeswoman Ana Alicia, the Mexican-born actress who stars on the nighttime television drama “Falcon Crest.”

Those who respond by calling the number that follows the public service announcement will receive the brochure, which lists 19 social service agencies in Southern California able to provide bilingual help with alcohol-related problems.

Moreno-Wycoff said there are three distinct groups of Latinas, all facing different cultural barriers, that Proyecto AASUL wants to reach.

One is the immigrant Latina, such as Ana’s mother, whom research has shown traditionally abstains from drinking but whose sons or husband may abuse alcohol. The fotonovela, which traditionally is filled with tales of passion and adventure, is targeted to “the woman at home,” she said.

The television announcements are for the succeeding generations of Latinas born in the United States, such as Ana, who are gradually losing touch with their culture. “The greatest contrast in drinking rates is between the first and second generation,” Moreno-Wycoff said, “suggesting that being born and raised in the U.S. is a critical factor . . . in women’s drinking practices.”

The third group, the one she says runs the highest risk of substance abuse, is teen-age Latinas. The way to reach them is through education, and Moreno-Wycoff hopes the word will get out to educators and social service providers at the October conference.

The grant for Proyecto AASUL was awarded last year to Project Info Inc., a Whittier-based agency that also offers family counseling for troubled adolescents, senior citizen nutrition programs and local hiring for a federal jobs program.

Irene Redondo-Churchward, executive director of Project Info, was asked by state officials to review grant proposals for alcohol awareness programs targeted to Latino, Native American and black women.

No Proposals

When the grant deadline arrived, officials informed her that they had received proposals from agencies wishing to manage the Native American and black programs, but not the Latina project. So Redondo-Churchward disqualified herself as a grant reviewer and began putting together her own proposal for Proyecto AASUL. The state reissued its request for proposals to insure a fair competition, and three other agencies applied. Project Info, however, was selected.

Redondo-Churchward was reluctant to speculate as to why so few agencies applied for the state grant. The grant “isn’t a whole lot of money,” she said, and the request for proposals may not have reached every agency able to coordinate a bilingual alcohol abuse program.

However, Moreno-Wycoff said the language requirement might have discouraged some potential applicants. She said she telephoned nearly 200 agencies and found only 19 able to provide alcohol counseling to Latinas in both English and Spanish. “There just aren’t that many out there,” she said.

The public service announcements are important, she said, because they tell women that there are other sympathetic Latinas out there, ready to help. “We don’t see our own image,” she said, exasperated. “I look at these fashion ads and see blacks and Asians, but no Latinas.”

Moreno-Wycoff hopes Proyecto AASUL , backed by a task force of 40 successful Latinas from Southern California, will become a national model program to help Latinas who are dealing with alcohol problems during their cultural transitions.

“There is such a cultural conflict here,” Moreno-Wycoff said. “We want to be accepted. We want to succeed. But we’re letting go of what we are . . . and in the process, placing ourselves at risk for this kind of abuse.”