armen obles: by a latina to latine communities

Originally from Brooklyn, New York by way of Neillsville, Wisconsin and of Puerto Rican decent, CarmenRoblescallsSt.Paul,Minnesotahome.

Carmen Robles is nationally recognized as an accomplished and high impact community engagement specialist with over 40 years of experience in implementing equity plans within underserved, immigrant, and multicultural ethnic communities.

From Honeywell Corporate to Governor Arne Carlson’s community engagement team, to implementing successful health awareness campaigns, Carmen continues to lead initiatives thatimpactMinnesotansthroughoutthestate.

Carmen Robles has a stellar background in public relations, multicultural marketing, and youth development, within the Hispanic/Latinx/Latine/Latino/AfroLatino/Indigenous-Latino/Asian-Latino communities throughout the State of Minnesota. She was featured as a valuable mentor in a PeabodyAwardWinningMentorshipCampaign.

Robles was a former Minnesota State Board of Education member, AmeriCorps Training Committee chair and developed Minnesota’s first non-traditionalapprenticeshipstandards.

In 2005 she founded Jovenes de Salud: Latino Youth Taking Action for Health, Education and Social Justice. The afterschool enrichment program is based on the youth apprenticeship system of connecting academics with hands on experience through community service outreach projects, encouraging and supporting academic goals. Jovenes de Salud successfully led legislative efforts to ban tobacco use in public places. Youthralliedagainstthetobaccoindustry, removing the tobacco industry’s support from Cinco de Mayo celebrations. The impactful program was selected as Best Practices by the Latino National Council on Tobacco Control, WashingtonDC2012,andBestPracticesforCenter DiseaseControlmaterials2010.

In 2019, she began work on creating awareness of Opioids/Substance Use Disorders/Mental Health crisis In2020 likemostoftheworld shebeganto

In a recent interview with La Voz Newspaper, Robles commented “We all have problems, traumas.It'swhathasalwayskeptmethinking aboutmyparentsandthedifficultlifetheyhad. My parents didn't know English. The reality is that the concrete streets of New York City swallowed up my dad who abandoned my mom. Iamaproductofthat.

That's why I like to write and have healthy conversations because we all have trauma. Whatkeptmegoingforwardwaskeepingthat family pride. Always remembering, hey were theoneswhohadadifficultlifesothatIandmy descendants live well. That's what I love about being a Latina: we always find hope in everythingweface”sumsupRobles.

Conversaciones de Salud web show and ENewsletter features Dr. Hector Colon-Rivera, MD technical assistant from ORN (Opioid Response Network) and a diverse group of individuals committedtothemissionoferadicatingtheopioid epidemicandotherhealthrelatedtopicstookroot.

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"I'm an artist, I make ceramics, mosaics and crochet. EverythingIdohastodowithPuerto Rico even when I crochet a scarf! God has