The latest New Yorker of the Week has been a health advocate in the Latino community for the past 40 years and is not stopping anytime soon. NY1's Michael Scotto filed the following report.

Six months ago, Stephanie Edwards says she was acting out, doing poorly in school and trying to commit suicide. She says she has changed her life, thanks to "Life Is Precious," a program in East Tremont, Bronx created by Dr. Rosa Gil to combat the alarming rate of suicide amongst Latina teenagers.

“When I first came here, I used to curse, I used to scream, I used to get mad, I used to yell at people,” says Edwards. “I used to say 'I don't care.' Now I feel much different from the past.”

That is the sort of change that Gil wants to create among young women.

“Life Is Precious is a program that provides the adolescents after school the opportunity to come and work with creative art therapy to find ways of expressing their anguish,” says Gil.

Gil has served in three mayoral administrations fighting to alleviate health disparities in the city. She founded Comunilife, a nonprofit organization that provides programs and support like "life is precious" to disadvantaged New Yorkers.

“To see that programs of this nature may actually in the long run support the initiative of these young women to also assume leadership positions one day within the community, I think it’s really meritorious,” says Dr. Manny Gonzalez, program evaluator for Life Is Precious.

Twenty-seven girls between the ages of 11 to 17 attend the Life Is Precious program everyday after school for three-and-a-half hours. The program helps the girls channel their negative and suicidal thoughts into art, music, drama and film.

“We needed to respond to these crises because I think it’s terrible to loose a life of a adolescent, because that woman in the future will be somebody who will contribute to New York City,” says Gil.

Gil says parents of many of the girls are immigrants, and cultural differences mean strained relationships which can lead to emotional problems for the teens.

On Saturdays, parents and family members can attend the program with the girls. Edwards says having her mother alongside her helps their relationship.

“I got people around me who care, who love me, who want to see me be a better kid in life,” says Edwards. “To grow up, have a good life, to have a nice relationship with my mom.”

So, for giving Latinas a place to feel loved and learn new meaning for life, Dr. Rosa Gil is the New Yorker of the Week.

If you'd like to nominate someone to be NY1's New Yorker of the Week, send an email describing their qualifications to: nyer@ny1.com or mail a letter to:
NY1 News
New Yorker of the Week
75 Ninth Avenue, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10011