Psychology Professor Ruth Zúñiga Wins Grants to Support Outreach to Spanish-speaking Community

Pacific University Professor Ruth Zúñiga, the director of Pacific’s Sabiduría: Latina/o Psychology Emphasis, was awarded a $13,000 grant from the Oregon LatinX Leadership Network funded by the federal CARES Act.

The grant will allow Zúñiga to pay students and clinical psychology faculty members who are providing training to staff members at LatinX-serving organizations and community leaders.

Under Zúñiga’s direction, students and faculty members have been providing culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health training to members of LatinX-oriented organizations on a volunteer basis. But with increasing demand for such training, it’s becoming impractical to provide it without compensation for trainers. 

The funds will also be used to compensate community health workers to support outreach efforts, and to provide small, culturally appropriate incentives for participants. 

“Dr. Zúñiga has become an important leader in bringing culturally informed mental health services to Latinx members of our community, and this recent grant further highlights her already impressive accomplishments as a mental health advocate,” said Ann Barr-Gillespie, the vice provost and executive dean of Pacific’s College of Health Professions. “We are very fortunate to have a faculty member of Dr. Zúñiga’s caliber to connect with our Hillsboro community.”

The same week of the Oregon LatinX Leadership Network grant, Zúñiga and her students were also awarded a $7,500 grant to support its work with Charlas Comunitarias sobre el Bienestar y la Salud Emocional, a program that provides emotional-health support for Spanish-speakers who join the sessions on Facebook.