Celiana Lopez, Gisselle Cambron, and Yami Rodriguez are three students at Loyola University Chicago. Attending a predominantly white institution, or PWI, has presented challenges to all three girls, but Celiana, Gisselle, and Yami have found joy and community in Lambda Theta Alpha, their Latina sorority, and in programs meant to support first generation and low income students like Loyola’s Achieving College Excellence program. In this episode, reporter Gina Castro meets the three friends and digs into what it’s like to be a Latina at a PWI. Researchers from the Latino Policy Forum also unpack new research about obstacles to Latinas’ success in college.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

Art has always been an important way for 20 year-old Kaelah Serrano to explore and express her queer identity. Born and raised on Chicago’s southwest side, Kaelah found an artistic home in Yollocalli Arts Reach, a nonprofit based in Little Village that provides arts, media, and storytelling education for young people—many of them Latinx—in Chicago. Yollocalli is an example of a crucial “third space”: a place separate from home and school where young people can socialize and learn. In this episode, reporter Grace Del Vecchio follows Kaelah’s journey of self-discovery and explores how schools can better serve their Latinx LGBTQ+ students.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

Dariana Urbina is just 17 years old, but she is responsible for far more than the average teenager. She takes care of her three younger siblings—budgeting, cooking and cleaning, and doing paperwork and translation for her parents, who work jobs with grueling hours. Dariana’s heightened burden of responsibility is an example of what experts call “adultification” or “parentification”, in which children are forced to take on the responsibilities of the adults, often due to their families’ socioeconomic status. In this episode, reporter Brenda Ordoñez unpacks adultification’s causes and mental health impacts on children, and what can be done to protect and celebrate families instead.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

Nine year-old Rosalia Gonzalez and her teammates love playing flag football through Beyond the Ball Girls, a Little Village organization that teaches children life skills through sports. Safe outdoor recreation is especially important to the families in Little Village, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Chicago impacted by higher rates of gun violence and gang activity compared to much of the city. Little Village also faces high rates of environmental pollution as a result of a coal plant and Target distribution center in the area. In this episode, reporter Gina Castro investigates the intertwined issues facing the neighborhood, and meets the Little Village residents, activists, and community leaders working to make their neighborhood a safer place for children to play outdoors.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

Andrea Luna Oviedo got her period for the first time in fourth grade, a year before her school district typically began puberty education for its students. She was able to tackle this new phase of her life with the help of supportive family and friends, and her school district in Berwyn, IL began teaching puberty education to fourth graders the year after.

In this episode, reporter Francesca Mathewes explores the increase in early puberty rates among most girls and some nonbinary and trans children, and unpacks the factors that could contribute to Latina girls experiencing early puberty at a higher rate than their white counterparts. Dr. Louise Greenspan, a pediatric oncologist, and health educators at Chicago Public Schools also explain how best to support children going through puberty earlier than their peers.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

For Latina parents like Melissa Huerta in Berwyn, IL, providing her children with food that reflects her Mexican upbringing is a priority. But this objective is complicated by the relative convenience of processed foods, and her 9-year-old daughter’s preference for spaghetti and meatballs. In this episode, reporter Julia Binswanger digs into the array of issues facing families looking to feed their children healthy and culturally significant foods, as well as the implications of new guidelines around childhood obesity. Leaders at organizations working to provide fresh produce and culturally specific food staples discuss their work in neighborhoods across Chicago, many of which are in food deserts.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

High school teacher Itzel Carranza always knew she wanted to have a child, but difficulties arose along the way: from trouble conceiving and gestational diabetes to an intense labor experience and trouble breastfeeding. The anxiety Itzel felt was exacerbated by a cold Chicago winter, and she says she experienced postpartum depression for three months. While she was never officially diagnosed–about half of those suffering from it ever are–Itzel’s experience illustrates the pressures new moms face to be successful in their new roles. In this episode, reporter Wendy Wei untangles the many physical and social factors that can contribute to this very common birth complication. And mental health workers and community healers share how Latinas can build the villages that can support them and their baby.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

Gina Ramirez learned she was pregnant in the fall of 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Unable to practice social distancing due to her job, she came down with the virus when she was just two months pregnant. Like many Latinos in her neighborhood of Brighton Park in southwest Chicago, she had to navigate the anxiety and insecurity of not knowing how her job would support her while sick or pregnant, or how the virus would impact her pregnancy. In this episode, reporter Francesca Mathewes revisits the crucial months that Latinos learned about the Covid-19 vaccine through the lens of Gina and her family. Local activists in Chicago shed light on the real fears and obstacles that fueled vaccine hesitancy, and illustrate how their focus on community health safeguarded the health and wellness of neighborhood residents and families like Gina’s.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.