With generous support from the Provost Office and the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Shifting Portrait is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving scholars, researchers, policy experts and community advocates who are interested in understanding the implications of shifting demographic patterns amongst populations categorized as Hispanic and Latino in contemporary Baltimore and the United States.

 

       Population classification and definition is a crucial but often ignored aspect of mapping inequality. Changes in definitions and classification of populations can have multiple effects upon the identification of health access and outcomes. Population transfer and migrations from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as within the United States, has resulted in changing internal composition of Latino and Hispanic populations in the city, introducing streams of people into the city and region who, in some important respects, distinct from previous migration patterns.

 

       The core motivation for this conference is to promote dialogue between scholars across the social and natural sciences, researchers, policy makers and community advocates about the contours of inequality amongst Latinos in the contemporary United States, and its implications for public health, locally and nationally. New migration flows and ports of entry are two of many factors influencing shifts in the portrait of Spanish speaking communities in the area. These two factors highlight the national and global dimensions of public health practices and policies as governmental and non-governmental organizations seek to provide greater access and services to underserved and relatively marginalized populations.