Two years ago, Health Confianza’s team met Marissa Gutierrez when she trained as Community Health Club facilitator. Since then, she has led The Untouchables Community Health Club at Southside Lions Senior Center in Southeast San Antonio.

Over the years, we’ve watched as Gutierrez built trust with community and mastered the Community Health Club format. Because of this, she is our first Health Confianza Community Changer, a person working alongside us in public health and health literacy promotion. Read more below about Gutierrez and the community work she does during and outside of work hours.

San Antonio, Texas —  When you visit The Untouchables Community Health Club at Southside Lions Senior Center, expect to find a room full of attentive and laughing members. That’s because, the club’s facilitator, Marissa Gutierrez, with a glint in her eyes, shares a quick wit and easy rapport with the senior women that translates into a fun learning environment.

Given her accomplishments as a facilitator, it would be easy to believe that Gutierrez has years more experience in community building and public health than she does.

It all began in 2020, when Gutierrez and her sister, Lotus Rios, decided to start The Harlandale Sunshine Pantry to give back to the Southside neighborhood where they grew up. The idea was simple: create a mutual-aid pantry filled with food, hygiene items and clothing donated for and by community.

Through the pantry, they started logging the community’s assets and got to know the nonprofit community.

“Essentially, we were doing asset mapping without really knowing what it was,” Gutierrez said, referring to the mapping of resources available in a community. “From there, we started getting connected to more programs within the city, as well as people who were running social movements and mutual-aid movements in the city.”

Over the last five years, the sisters have amassed a consistent donor base of community partners and neighbors.

One supporter of the pantry, Dee Salinas, visited the pantry while her and her family were dealing with housing instability. In addition to food, the sisters were able to connect her with resources and eventually the family did get their own apartment. Having benefitted from the Harlandale Sunshine Pantry, Salinas and her family have made a point to give back in different ways including fundraising, volunteering at events, and volunteering to do a community podcast, Gutierrez said.

“Because my sister and I showed up for them, they show up for us now and for the community,” Gutierrez said.

From Pantry to Public Health Work

Without knowing it at the time, the pantry was a bridge to Gutierrez’s career as a community health worker.

Through her work with the pantry, Gutierrez was introduced to the city of San Antonio’s Healthy Neighborhood program. They later hired her to work in Southeast San Antonio.

Not as familiar with Southeast San Antonio, Gutierrez went about networking and understanding the needs and strengths of the community, slowly building trust with the people around her.

“I’m still building and gathering trust because I have found out that it is a lot easier to garner trust as a neighbor, buddy-friend than it is as a local government worker,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said that she was able to make inroads into a new community by studying the “patterns or grooves in the neighborhood” made by people that had come before her to do similar work.

Making connections is how she was given the opportunity to facilitate the Community Health Club at the Southside Lions Club.

“I just did a cooking demo, and they asked can you come back next week. I was getting training for the (Community Health) Club framework and thought, yeah, I can do this,” she said. “They have been with me now two years as a health club, but three years together.”

Since then, she’s received formal training as a Community Health Worker, which has given her the vocabulary and knowledge to move through community and professional settings.

“I learned that the things that me and my sister were doing instinctively, people had already laid down the methodologies and foundation for,” Gutierrez said. “It has definitely helped me explain to people what we do when we get into spaces where most people are using jargon or formal language.”

Club Takeaways

Gutierrez says that the club format and curriculum have been a big part of the success as was having access to Health Confianza’s Senior Community Outreach Specialists Gracie De Leon, Santos Barrientes and Cynthia De La Garza-Parker.

“I will say the support that Gracie, Santos and Cynthia give; They are great mentors in applying the club framework. The framework itself is excellent and the support they’ve given is awesome,” Gutierrez said “The health club members seem to love the lessons. It’s easy to digest, and I don’t have to change too many words because it’s written in plain language.”

De Leon said Gutierrez has her own way of simply and effectively explaining nutrition and other health topics.

“Marissa does a great job of relating to the community and responding to their ideas with curriculum and different activities. She brings humor and creativity to her role as a health educator,” De Leon said. “You can see the joy in people’s faces at every meeting. They are genuinely connecting and having fun.”

Gutierrez downplays her role in the success of the club, instead shining the light on the club members.

“It’s the people that fill those seats that make it a success,” Gutierrez said. “Community is great. More now than ever, we need our connection to community.”

A Time of Transition

Due to the recent changes in public health infrastructure, Gutierrez is concerned that clubs like The Untouchables will be unable to continue. Public health advocacy is something that Gutierrez is strongly encouraging to ensure that health clubs and public health continue to be funded for the health and equity of our communities.

Regardless of future changes, Gutierrez is staying focused on community.

“In the next year I want to learn more about my community as I possibly can. I would have liked more time. The people I’ve met are unique and their stories are unique as they are,” Gutierrez said. “This job has given me a distinct and wonderful opportunity to learn about people in a capacity I had never really explored before.”

 

San Antonio, TEXAS — This fall, Health Confianza is proud to introduce 15 new Health Confianza Ambassadors trained to help spread the word about preventive health resources in Bexar County, create connections with hard-to-reach populations and serve as advocates who create and disseminate innovative preventive health messages.   

Health Confianza, a four-year-old multi-level health literacy initiative that provides programming for organizations, the health workforce and community, trained these 15 natural community leaders in core health literacy and effective health communications principles, with the goal of designing and delivering scientifically accurate preventive health information, that is both culturally and linguistically appropriate. 

Health Confianza teamed up with its partners — Southside Collaborative, South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC), WestCare Texas and YWCA San Antonio —to identify natural leaders,  those people in the community who are serving their neighbors either as volunteers, community health workers or public health advocates. 

“We are excited that these trusted and respected community leaders have chosen to join our initiative and to serve as community health educators and resources for our community,” said Jason Rosenfeld, DrPH, associate professor of Medicine, director of Global Health Education at the Cheever Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, and co-director of Health Confianza. “As a core principle for Health Confianza, we aim to provide health information that is accessible and understandable, so each individual can make the best, informed health decisions for themselves and their families.  Partnering with trusted and respected local leaders in the design and dissemination of messages allows us to center the voice and perspectives of our diverse Bexar County community in that strategy.”  

As part of this work, they will be creating innovative messages and content to share, as well as promoting important preventive health information with the community on issues including child health, chronic disease prevention, and mental wellness promotion.   

At the same time, they will also help Health Confianza elevate community strengths and needs. 

“We look forward to seeing the different ways that our Health Confianza Ambassadors will help our communities take time to focus on their health and encourage healthy actions, including prioritizing screenings, vaccines, annual check-ups, and mental health,” Rosenfeld said.  

Health Confianza’s Ambassadors (By Sponsoring Organization): 

Health Confianza
Timoteo Barrientez
Candi Diaz
Amanda Onochie 

South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC)
Alice Alvarez
Edna Cruz
Dre Rodriguez

Southside Collaborative
Lisa Espinoza
Alicia Sanchez-Esquivel
Jorgette Gueda

WestCare Texas
Chris Garry
Jocelyn Gonzalez
D’Ajia Goodlow
Sarah Montejano
Krystal Rojas
Jessica Route 

 

  

 

 

 

San Antonio, Texas — Health Confianza’s local nonprofit partners are warning the community about a rise in theft related to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that is affecting Texas families and children.

In Texas, more than 1.7 million children received SNAP benefits in 2022. This represents 23.9% of all SNAP recipients in the state.

SNAP benefits are administered to recipients through electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, which are loaded with money every month to use in participating retailers. Like regular debit or credit cards, they are subject to scams. Scammers may reach out through texts and links requesting PIN numbers, use skimming devices on EBT machines, or capture information from online transactions.

Texas Health and Human Services does not replace the benefits lost through fraud.

Protect your benefits against fraud/theft:

• Download Your Texas Benefits App to manage your benefits. The app is available on Google Play or iTunes App Store.
• Freeze your EBT card: Your Texas Benefits app allows you to freeze and unfreeze your EBT card to secure your funds when not in use.
• Limit your online transactions: Some scammers are able to capture your information from transactions with online retailers.
• If you suspect fraud: Change your PIN immediately to prevent further unauthorized purchases and contact your local SNAP office or state agency. In Texas, call the Lone Star Help Desk at 800-777-7328 to change your PIN and cancel your card, then call 2-1-1 and select option 3 to report fraud to the HHSC Office of the Inspector General.

Tip: The Texas Department of State Health Services will never call or text you to ask for your Lone Star Card number or PIN.

San Antonio, Texas — Health Confianza’s partner, the WestCare Foundation, is hosting a Summer Extravaganza summer program for children and teens. It is also co-hosting a mental health symposium in late June, and is capping September with family summit on mental health and substance misuse.

Check out the flyers below to see how you can get involved:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For More Information About the WestCare Texas Summer Extravaganza 2025 Call: 726-229-0795 Email: LeReta.GatlinMcDavid@westcare.com or Julie.Jones@westcare.com
Download the flyer here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-registration is required. Use the QR code to register.

Please Register by September 26, 2025, by clicking this link or copy and paste into your browser: https://stxhidta.org//
Download the flyer here.

San Antonio, Texas — Back-to-school health fairs are a fun way to provide families with the tools they need to stay healthy. Here’s an evolving round-up of upcoming back to school events that include health and community resources. Some may also offer vaccines for children and adults, but keep in mind that it may require pre-registration.

• Back-to-School Extravaganza, July 24th
• South Central AHEC’s Back to School Health and Wellness Fair, Q&A with a doctor and psychologist, Aug. 2

Download Flyer: 2025 Back to School Flyer (PDF)

 

 

San Antonio, TEXAS — YWCA San Antonio, a nonprofit focused on empowering girls and women through education, workforce and health programs, is leaning into the drama of Spanish-language telenovelas with its latest educational initiative. Along with its new 30-minute telenovela, YWCA is providing associated training, consultations and moderated discussions. 

Earlier this spring, YWCA premiered the telenovela, La Cuenta Pendiente (Outstanding Balance), which focuses on common real-life challenges as it delves into timely topics including healing in black and brown communities, neurodiversity and wage equity. 

For the uninitiated, telenovelas are typically limited series romantic dramas that are beloved by Latino communities and many others globally. 

La Cuenta Pendiente (Outstanding Balance) tells the story of Lisa, Lorena, and Lily—three women facing an unfair system that tries to silence them. But working together, they are able to rise, resist, and fight back.

“This telenovela is more than just a dramatic story—it’s a movement to spark conversations about equity, domestic violence, and resilience. We want it to be a starting point for more people to feel seen, heard, and supported,” said Teresa Garza, Director of Marketing, YWCA San Antonio. 

YWCA San Antonio is available to be booked for screenings of the telenovela, as well as for moderated discussions and related trainings. 

“As the Director of Racial Justice and Gender Equity at YWCA San Antonio, I’ve witnessed firsthand how narrative can be our greatest ally in healing. La Cuenta Pendiente invites us into the lived experiences of women of color and immigrant communities—stories of resilience born from adversity,” said Misty Harty, Director of Racial Justice and Gender Equity, YWCA San Antonio. “When we pair that powerful storytelling with our Soul Sanar racial justice training, Neurodiversity inclusion work, Wage Equity advocacy, and our practical How to do DEI without doing DEI guidance, we do more than educate—we build bridges of understanding, solidarity, and transformation. Together, we honor each voice, dismantle systemic barriers, and cultivate a community where every woman can thrive.”  

The nonprofit doesn’t have any planned screenings, but encourages the community to visit YWCASA.org for updates on future screenings. 

Watch a preview of La Cuenta Pendiente (Outstanding Balance).
Book trainings here. 

San Antonio, Texas — Every day, public health experts and community health workers are having conversations about health with people from  different backgrounds and perspectives.

Some community members may mistrust the health care and public health sectors, others are skeptical about preventive and curative options, or may feel invisible in their health care journey. 

That said, health professionals understand that an essential part of improving health is having respectful conversations that can lead to life-saving cancer screenings, crucial annual flu shots, annual check-ups and/or lifestyle changes. 

It’s no surprise that effective health communications is one of the most popular topics delivered by the Health Confianza team, said Jason Rosenfeld, DrPH, associate professor of Medicine, director of Global Health at the Cheever Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, director of the South Texas CHW Workforce Preparedness Collaborative and co-director of Health Confianza. 

We asked Rosenfeld to share some of the principles that lead to meaningful health conversations in his own words. 

*Please note that this primer is intended as introductory information. Health Confianza’s health communication training curriculum offers more in-depth information. Check this website and Health Confianza socials for updates on upcoming trainings. 

4 Tips for Health Communication 

1. Validate   

If a person starts a conversation or asks a question from a particular viewpoint, the first thing you should do is validate and don’t dismiss. In other words, don’t be judgmental about those beliefs and perspectives and validate that their perspective is real and valid. 

One way to validate is to say something like “that’s an outstanding question, and not the first time I’ve heard it.” Validating without confirming the accuracy of their statement can help diffuse a tense opener.  

2. Active Listening 

Another important principle is using active listening, which is when you as the listener are not just waiting for your opportunity to speak. You’re actually listening to, absorbing and responding to the things being said in the conversation. 

3. Be Curious 

Curiosity is a key part of actively listening. If you are curious, then you are not dismissing what the person is saying. You are responding to them with authentic questions or statements, such as: 

• Tell me more?
• What do you mean by that? 
• Where did you hear that? 

With curiosity, you are leading the person to think about what they are saying and explain their position. You are giving them the space to share their thoughts, and sometimes, not always, they may come to their own ‘aha’ moment. 

4. Don’t Seek to Win

Try to enter a conversation to understand and learn versus seeking to win an argument. The minute you seek to win, you are no longer actively listening, you are looking at how you can actively counter the things that they are trying to say.  

Curiosity and not seeking to win are interrelated principles. If you go into a conversation with curiosity, then you are naturally asking questions, which leads the individual to share their experience with you. That goes back to our first principle, acknowledging people’s perspectives. 

Power of Words: 

• The word “and” can be a powerful, useful tool in keeping a conversation going. It is also an antidote to “but,” which can be argumentative.  

• “Beware of the but,” said Rosenfeld. “I agree with you, but…” You don’t actually agree because you are using the word but, which serves to negate everything you say before the ‘but’. 

• Use bridging statements as a connection between their statement or idea and what you would like them to hear. Examples of some bridging statements are: 

• • That’s really interesting. I have heard something like this… 

• • Have you considered this.. 

Additional Resources: 

https://www.cdc.gov/health-literacy/php/resources/health-literacy-resources.html 

https://www.ihi.org/resources/tools/conversation-guide-improve-covid-19-vaccine-uptake 

https://publichealthcollaborative.org/communication-tools/plain-language-for-public-health/ 

https://champsonline.org/resources/quality-improvement-resources/health-literacy-resources 

 

Buena Idea: A series where we look to our Community Health Clubs for inspiration and new ways to communicate health.

San Antonio, TEXAS — Sunshine Health Club, a Health Confianza Community Health Club located at Sunshine Plaza apartments, is living up to its name, bringing positivity through connection and group activities. 

Most recently, Kim Rendon, a community health worker and Health Program Specialist II with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, led club members in producing their first zine (a short magazine) that focuses on “celebrating community.”

An avid photographer, Rendon wanted to engage in a community-building activity that could highlight the creativity of club members, so she brought the idea of a zine to the club.

“I was trying to figure out a fun and creative way to capture the stories of participants,” Rendon said. “A zine seemed like an engaging way to archive the work we do as a collective and document the Sunshine Health Club.”

They were immediately on board.

“It’s a community thing, it’s a group project,” said club member Cindy Carroll whose photography became the zine’s cover art.  

To get started, Rendon decided to turn the monthly club meetings into zine workshops, focusing on different sections. For the “All About Us” section, she had the club members complete a worksheet by interviewing each other. For the “Recipes” section, she tied in Health Confianza’s nutrition curriculum, food demos, and club member’s own recipes. Finally, for the “Resources” section, the club decided to share community resources and advice for diabetes, one of the chronic illnesses that affects many of their members.

Reflecting on the zine, club members said it was a great way to learn more about each other, as well as to share their special skills and individual talents, such as photography and cooking.  

Teresa Hampton said the zine was a great ice breaker for neighbors. 

“It was a great way to socialize and to get to know each other, to get to know everyone’s names,” Hampton said. “You want to know your (neighbors) in case you need something, you’ll have someone to contact. We always have bingo every day, but this is something informative and fun.” 

Both Rendon and the other club members are looking forward to working on another issue of the zine.

“I would love to help create more zines with the Sunshine Health Club and any other clubs that are interested in engaging participants,” Rendon said. “Maybe the next one will be more DIY and fully created by the members.”

In the sections below, we asked Rendon to give us insight into the club activity and break down the process of zine making. A link to a PDF of the zine is also available below.

Four Questions with Kim Rendon

Was creating a zine harder or easier than you thought it would be?  

It was fairly easy to make. I went ahead and did the first digital zine to preserve histories and to have it be more accessible to share with partner organizations online. 

What was the response from members?  

They were excited to see the zine and read the recipes and want it to continue. There was definitely lots of input for the next zine! 

What did you think of the Zine process? 

It was a great creative outlet for all of us. It’s easy to reproduce and share with community and just a great way to document and share the story of the health club. I enjoyed the process and would do it again! 

Anything you would do differently?  

I would have tried to include more aspects, maybe more resources or another activity for the participants to share more of themselves. I think that is something I would like to do in the future. 

Break it Down: How to make a Club Zine

Zine Production 

Timeline: Three months to create including activities. For the digital zine, the club used Canva and saved it as a PDF. “We haven’t archived it, but I am thinking of having it submitted to Central Library’s mini zine library,” Rendon said.

Printing was a longer process.

Staff: Facilitator, health club members, editor. 

Staff Roles: A person to facilitate workshops and conversations. Also, a person responsible for transcribing if zine is digital, such as an editor or someone who can help proofread and provide an eye for composition. 

Photography: Utilize the skills of the members or ask them for their personal pictures. 

Content (How did you pick your stories?): The club involved the members. They asked what their interests were and utilized the workshops they had planned and included them in the zine. 

Materials: Worksheets, printing paper. 

Printing: Internal cost for limited prints; consider larger printing chains like Office Depot, where it could cost between .18 and .62 cents a page. 

Download the Sunshine Health Club zine here.

 

San Antonio, Texas — A new training center at UT Health San Antonio will offer Texas Department of State Health Services continuing education units (CEUs) for community health workers or promotores/as and continuing health worker instructors.

The new community health worker training center — located at the Charles E. Cheever Jr. Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics — is focused on serving the existing community health worker (CHW) and community health worker instructor (CHWI) workforce at UT Health San Antonio and will also be open to the entire community.

The training center is led by Jason Rosenfeld, DrPH, associate professor of Medicine, director of Global Health at the Cheever Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, director of the South Texas CHW Workforce Preparedness Collaborative and co-director of Health Confianza.

“We are here to provide a service for UT Health San Antonio’s CHW workforce,” Rosenfeld said. “We know it can be challenging to find continuing education particularly for instructors, so we are now here to fill that gap. We want to collaborate with faculty and staff across the university to help sustain and strengthen our community health workforce.”

For faculty, departments or entities interested in turning their own content into continuing education units, the training center can provide some technical assistance as well as submit the CEU to the state for approval. This gives faculty and staff at the university greater support in converting existing learning modules, conferences or other learning opportunities into continuing education units.

Community health workers and community health worker instructors in Texas need to obtain 20 CEUs every two years to maintain their CHW certification.

Locally, MetroHealth, YWCA and South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC), which is housed at the university, provide CHW certification training and continuing education.

“There are other CEU providers in the city, but we have a public health focus, a health care focus on CHW continuing education and CHW Instructor CEUs,” Rosenfeld said.

This new training center will also provide a gap in CHWI training, as only a fraction of training centers in Texas are certified to provide continuing education for CHW Instructors.

Later this summer, the training center will begin providing CEUs. Initial offerings may include public health modules, Community Health Club facilitator training, as well as other curricula originally developed to serve Health Confianza’s Community Health Club facilitator model.

“We want to be able to provide engaging and innovative CEUs for our on-campus CHWs. There are a number of CHWs and CHWIs working for various parts of the university,” he said. “We want to help build a robust workforce on our campus.”

The training center is provided by Rosenfeld; Melanie Stone,  DrPH, MEd,CHWI, assistant professor of Family and Community Medicine and director of Community Service Learning; Shayanne Martin, MPH, CHWI; Santos Barrientes, CHW/CHWI; Gracie De Leon, CHW/CHWI; and Cynthia De La Garza-Parker, CHW/CHWI. All are community health worker instructors and part of the Health Confianza team.

For the foreseeable future, there will be no charge for CEUs.

For more information, reach out to Confianza@uthscsa.edu or follow Health Confianza on Instagram and Facebook @HealthConfianza.