Chicago is the World

Here’s a good reminder of how important reporting on the elderly is for the ethnic news media.

These are projects that will be carried out by many different kinds of publications produced by immigrant or black or Latino publications at a fellowship held by New America Media.

These are the kinds of stories will be talk about our own briefing on Tuesday Feb. 23 at the office of Age Options in Oak Park. Folks from the AARP will also take part. If you signed up, there’s room. Let me know if you are coming.

Steve Franklin, steve@newstips.org, 312 369 6400

These are the projects:

New America Media is proud to present the Ethnic Elders: Today and Tomorrow Fellows for 2010

The New America Media 2010 Ethnic Elders Fellowship is sponsored by The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Lotus Chau, Sing Tao Daily New York, New York, NY.

Project: A three-part series in Chinese and English translation on major challenges for Chinese and other Asian elders, including being exploited by Chinese casino companies, which all but entrap them on Casino buses; being increasingly isolated home alone because their children cannot care for them; and the stresses caused when elder reach the language barrier.

Maricar Hampton, Reporter, Philippine News, Laurel, MD.

Project: Major article on how the large influx of nurses and other health care workers from the Philippines are coping and how they may be affecting the quality of care in a range of U.S. long-term care settings.

Karen Holish, Contributing Writer/Editor, News from Indian Country, Minneapolis, MN.

Project: A magazine length report for national distribution on the scourge of diabetes among the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and others causing older Native Americans to die before their time.

Kausar Javaid, Washington Bureau Chief, Pakistan Post Weekly Newspaper, Alexandria, VA.

Project: Two-part series in Urdu and English translation on economic, health and family-conflict challenges of older Pakistani immigrants.

Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, Nowy Dziennik/Polish Daily News and Feet in Two Worlds, New York, NY.

Project: an in-depth news feature in Polish and English on how Polish elders are weathering the effects of the recession and the role of government service organizations in helping them face today’s touch choices.

Araceli Martínez Ortega, Northern California Correspondent, La Opinión, (Los Angeles) Sacramento Bureau.

Project: Investigative article in Spanish and English translation on Latino elders facing poverty in the recession, often having to break from tradition and enter nursing homes because their children are under stress to make ends meet

Julie Pham, Publisher/Producer, Nguoi Viet Tay Bac/Northwest Vietnamese News, Seattle, WA.

Project: Series of articles examining euthanasia in three ethnic communities in Washington, only one of two states to legalize physician assisted suicide. The articles will also be published translated into Spanish in El Mundo and into Somali in Runta, as well as in English.

Rebecca Rivas, Staff Reporter/Web video Producer, St. Louis American Newspaper, St. Louis, MO.

Project: A three-part series on housing challenges for older African American seeking affordable senior living and often running into de factor redlining that aims to ignore or discourage them from moving in. This series will continue an investigation Rivas began last year.

DeVaun Sanders, Contributor, PhxSoul.com, Phoenix, AZ.

Project: Three-part series on assimilation challenges for Somali and other African immigrants in Arizona, struggles of African American, and how African immigrants and African Americans relate to one another.

M. Kay Siblani, Executive Editor, The Arab American News, Dearborn, MI.

Project: A major article in Arabic and English editions aimed at informing the nation’s largest Arab community about the difficulties of older Arabs and their families in  Post-9/11 America, ranging from health care disparities to caregiving to financial challenges in the recession.

Sunita Sohrabji , Staff Reporter, India West, San Leandro, CA

Project: An investigative article in English about the army of elderly women from India services as nannies and domestics in prosperous Silicon Valley, often under brutish conditions

Abu Taher, Editor, Bangla Patrika, New York, NY.

Project: Two-part series on struggles of older Bangladeshi immigrants to the United States. The articles will be published in Bangla and English translation.

Nahmyo Thomas, Contributor, RedWoodAge.com/Newswire21.org, San Francisco, CA.

Project: Three-part series on the impact of poor environmental living conditions on the health and welfare of ethnic elders.