Supporting the Most Vulnerable Families Experiencing Food Insecurity

In early March, as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted air travel across the U.S., Ezequiel Martin Alcala’s hours driving shuttles at the Denver International Airport were cut—a sudden, dramatic drop in income.

Instead of calling unemployment services, his family turned to an alternative source of support: Guadalupe Rodriguez, a trusted figure who had helped Alcala’s wife, Elida Hermosillo, with cooking classes and meal prep strategies.

Rodriguez is a promotora, a type of community health worker active within Latinx populations across the U.S. (The term is short for promotora de salud, or “health promoter,” with most organizations now using the term “promotores” to include all genders.) To an outsider, Rodriguez might be a surprising person to ask for help with an acute financial crisis: Her work focuses on supporting wholesome cooking and physical well-being. But promotores usually live within the communities they serve, and tend to be nimble, proactive, and well-connected advocates. In situations where language, culture, or immigration status are a barrier to more formal forms of aid, they’re routinely a first line of defense.

Rodriguez is employed by GrowHaus, a non-profit indoor farm, low-cost marketplace, and educational center working to improve food security in Elyria-Swansea and Globeville, two neighborhoods in north Denver. The fact that a food justice organization employs four promotoras, Rodriguez and three others, is notable: The model is often, though not always, used to address issues like mental health, women’s health, domestic violence, and substance abuse.