Echando Una Mano: Community Food and Nutrition Assistance Providers’ Perceived Ability to Adequately Serve Latino Adults with Limited Income and Limited English Proficiency in the US

OBJECTIVE: To examine community food and nutrition assistance providers' perceptions of Latino adults with limited income and limited English proficiency (LEP), and the services provided to them. DESIGN: In-depth semistructured interviews. SETTING: US (2022). PARTICIPANTS: Community food and nutrition assistance providers (n = 20) ANALYSIS: Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis, fitted into a theory on language use, social positioning, and Latino adults' health. Member checking verified the findings. RESULTS: Subordinate social positions of Latino adults with LEP when procuring community food and nutrition assistance stemmed from perceived authority (community food and nutrition assistance providers' social power), loss of Latino participants' adequation (social isolation), and their diminished authentication (barriers to validate information). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Subordinate social positioning in community food and nutrition assistance procurement among Latino adults with LEP may persist because of structures favoring those English proficient. Evaluating approaches that intentionally design community food and nutrition assistance for this population is needed to inform their influence on these structures.