Adnoris "Bo" Torres
Adnoris "Bo" Torres, Project Supervisor , Strong Beginnings- Healthy Start, Strong Fathers/Padres Fuertes Project @ Corewell Health
Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
Actions
Bio : Pronouns (El/He/Him/His)
Adnoris “Bo” Torres is an educator with a passion for the Latina/e/o/x Community. During his professional career he has served as an experienced program coordinator, manager, and executive director with a demonstrated history of working to remove existing barriers for all historically marginalized persons. Working in the city of Detroit for 15 year he honed his skills and developed a keen sense for working towards the greater good. Skilled in Community Organizing, Student Development, Policy Analysis, Comparative Politics, and Organizational Development, Bo utilizes his Political Science background and Chicano/Boricua studies focus to affect the issues of importance to the Latinx community.
Bo co-created the Padres Fuertes Initiative portion of the Strong Fathers/Padres Fuertes Program, a project within the National Healthy Start Program Strong Beginnings, which aims to affect the lives of Latinos Fathers /Father figures in Kent County. He has served as the Executive Director of the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan, forging an understanding of the importance of the organization in the community and impacting those in most need during the most crucial stages of the cov-19 pandemic.
Focusing on social determinants of health as a foundation, Bo has developed outreach and educational opportunities for the Latinx community of Western Michigan to engage with their community in new and dynamic ways.
For Bo equity is not just a concept, an idea, or some trend; it is a way of living life. Creating spaces for those in society to thrive and grow in a way that truly represents who they are, that removes barriers and amplifies the voices of those who have for too long not been allowed to be heard. As a member of the Latinx community he sees a profound duty to be of service to those who in his community do not share his privilege. An objective in this work for him is to be a voice from the chorus of Latinx peoples whose true representation is inaccurate, whose lives are not fully valued, and who are otherized to a caricature or a bowl of food. He envisions the opportunity to develop ideas and actively engage not only his racial ethnic community but all communities whose equity lenses are focused on systemic change.
Area of Expertise
Topics
Engaging Global Majority Men with virtual offerings
Strong Beginnings-Healthy Start's, Strong Fathers/Padres Fuertes project has been engaging in a virtual offering we have dubbed Manhood Monday as a way to connect with community virtually. Every month we have utilized the virtual space to connect to project participants, community fathers, & father figures. Manhood Monday utilizes Streamyard as a Facebook Live vehicle for discussion.
These sessions occur on the second Monday of the month from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm pm and discuss topics that relate to our best practices. This virtual platform has offered us the ability to continue to engage with the community in an innovative and creative way.
The Strong Fathers/Padres Fuertes project of Strong Beginnings - Healthy Start is a community-driven project that encourages the development of a strong relationships between children, families, and their fathers/father figures. The project encourages positive interaction, inspires hope, and develops opportunities for engagement between community fathers, father figures, and birthing persons.
All of our project offerings are engaged utilizing a social determinant of health lenses to remove barriers to service and create long term pathways to self-reliance. We focus on Social Network Development, Work force Development, Housing, Transportation, and connecting to a medical home, as the keys social determinant pathways to focus on in the success of our project participants. The only project criteria are that the father , father figure , role model, or birthing person live within Kent County and have a child between the ages of 0 and 18 months.
Data has taught us that a father’s positive involvement in their children's lives is critical. To have the ability to raise the next generation of children into loving and solid homes activities that showcase a community that is safe, fun loving, and engaged is crucial. Not only is this engagement beneficial for the child, but in the development of the ecosystem that our families are a part of. That loving leadership and involvement is crucial to the future of our families, communities, country, and world.
When a father is not involved in his child's life, we know that :
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (U.S. Dept. Of Health/Census) – 5 times the average.
90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes – 32 times the average.
85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average. (Center for Disease Control)
Father Factor in Education – Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.
Children with Fathers who are involved are 40% less likely to repeat a grade in school.
(http://www.rochesterareafatherhoodnetwork.org/statistics*)
The project truly benefits our community by addressing father engagement, community education, stress reduction, and community focus.
You can find more on our work, archived Manhood Monday events, as well as copies of our monthly newsletter on: https://www.facebook.com/StrongDadsGR
Developed by Strong Beginnings-Healthy Start and partially funded under the Health Resources and Service Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau Grant #H49MC03591. Strong Beginnings-Healthy Start is a partnership of Arbor Circle, Cherry Health, Healthy Kent Infant Health Action Team, Kent County Health Department, Trinity Health, UM Health West Community Clinic, Corewell Health.
Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers. If you suspect this profile to be fake or spam, please let us know.
Jump to top