Social Issue Track: Health, Human Rights & Access
Sponsoring Partner: Haymarket People’s Fund
Boston Black Women’s Health Institute (BBWHI) is a membership organization that empowers Black women in Greater Boston to improve their own health and the health of their families and communities. Through a combination of wellness programming and advocacy training, Black women receive on-going peer support to make changes in their personal lives, the health care system and the public policies that impact their health.
Social Problem:
- Black women in Boston can expect to live an average of 76.0 years, 3.6 years less than White women.
- Black women in Boston are more likely to die of breast cancer, even though they are more likely than White women to be screened for the disease.
- Black women in Boston deliver low birth weight babies, a leading cause of infant mortality, at twice the rate of White women.
- These disparities persist even when controlling for income or education.
Key Accomplishments & Social Impact:
- Started out of the founder’s home with all in-kind support; volunteer-led for first seven years.
- Created and launched the BBWHI Well Woman Programs – Sister Circle, Slim Down Sisters and Sister Strut - serving over 1,000 women in the last five years.
- For Slim Down Sisters, average weight loss for participants is six pounds over 12 weeks and nearly one-third lose 10 or more pounds.
- Selected to train for 50 grassroots organizers for the National Black Women’s Health Imperative chapters across the country.
- The Boston Public Health Commission says BBWHI’s “health promotion and disease prevention work at the grass roots level has been a model for us and other organizations around the city and the state.”
- Organized 150 women from Boston to attend the 2004 March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC.
Goals –18 Months:
- Serve over 200 participants through 12 Well Woman Groups.
- Develop and implement a strategy to convert 100 participants to members.
- Train 30 women for leadership roles as wellness facilitators or advocates.
Increase in Philanthropic Investment – 18 Months:
$292,000 |
Ways to Invest
In-Kind Support
- Conducting a search to hire another senior manager to complement the skills of the Executive Director.
- Finding a partner organization to share office space.
- Adding 2-3 Black women with expertise in business, law and medicine to serve as Board members.
- Developing a database and reporting system.
- Reviewing and improving the financial management system
Financial Support
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5 Wellness Program Groups, serving 100 women |
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Data management software, staff training and data entry |
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Annual conference for members |
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Health policy intern |
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Scales and blood pressure monitors
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Contact Information
Lula Christopher
(617) 436-2291
lula.christopher@bbwhi.org
Location
Dorchester, MA
Founded
1995
Current Budget
$112,000
Geography & People Served
58,000 Black women living in Boston, with a focus on the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan.
Website
http://www.blackwomenshealth.org/
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