Black Men’s Wellness Sustainable Initiative (BMWSI)

We’re profoundly grateful for the Wisconsin Partnership Program four-year, $300,000 investment in Black men’s health. This investment has changed the culture of wellness for Black men in Wisconsin and across the United States.

– Aaron Perry, founding President and CEO of the Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association

At a Glance

The Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association (RLWA), a community organization located inside JP Hair Design, Madison’s largest Black barbershop, used a Community Collaboration Grant to expand its work through the Black Men’s Wellness Sustainable Initiative (BMWSI). The BMWSI aimed to improve health and increase access to health care for Black males in Dane County, who are at higher risk for chronic conditions including heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma and diabetes, and who are less likely to have health insurance and are less likely to access health care systems than white males.

This project has been successful in making significant progress toward each of its goals. BMWSI has taken steps to address the poor health outcomes of Black men in Dane County. The funding supported work to vaccinate 450 community members for COVID-19, provide health education and preventative screening and open the Perry Family Free Clinic which provides care exclusively to uninsured and under-insured Black men. BMWSI added two new Barbershop Men’s Health and Education Centers, giving access to more than 7,000 barbershop clientele each month. Further, BMWSI has helped 115 Black men secure BadgerCare coverage, and the project has inspired other communities to adopt the Barbershop Health Model to improve the health of Black residents in their community.

The Challenge

Black men are at a disproportionately higher risk for chronic conditions including heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma and diabetes. Compared to their white counterparts, Black men are less likely to have health insurance and, when they are insured, are less likely to access healthcare systems. These disparities have contributed to the more than 20-year life expectancy gap between Black and white populations in Wisconsin. Further, when race is factored into education, employment, incarceration and health, Wisconsin has consistently ranked near the bottom.

Project Goals

The Black Men’s Wellness Sustainable Initiative (BMWSI) sought  to address poor health outcomes through five goals that aimed to increase wellness, prevent diabetes and reduce health disparities for Black males in Dane County:

1. Increase health services to the underserved Black male population of Dane County by increasing the percentage of Black males in the county served by the Men’s Health and Education Center from 15 percent (2,400 people) to 35 percent (5,400 people) per month.
2. Increase the availability of capacity of staff and volunteers to serve as health advocates for assisting clients in the navigation of healthcare systems.
3. Fill service gaps for the black male population within Dane County to sustain BMWSI’s efforts.
4. Create a Barbershop Health Advisory Committee, holding monthly meetings with 90% of Black barbershop owners and select health advocates participating.
5. BMWSI’s long term goal is to have a full-service primary health clinic located within the Men’s Health & Education Center, providing primary care services for the Black male population of Dane County, which will make Dane County the healthiest county in the state for men of color.

Results

The BMWSI has made significant progress toward each of its goals.

After more than three years of planning, the Perry Family Free Clinic opened its doors and began providing health care to uninsured and under-insured Black men in Dane and Rock Counties. Perry Family Free Clinic is one of the nation’s first free clinics that provides care exclusively to this population and has already served over 40 patients. In addition to volunteer providers from UW–Madison who offer primary care, physical therapy, mental health and diabetic foot care services, the clinic has hired a Black mental health therapist and medical physician to increase trust between Black males and health care providers.

BMWSI hosted the 6th annual We’re Off to a Good Start virtual Black men’s health conference in collaboration with Exact Sciences. This event focused on early detection and screening for colorectal cancer. Nearly 90 Black men joined from 18 different states and seven countries. Following this event, a colorectal screening survey was created and implemented in each of the organization’s four barbershop health centers and at the Perry Family Free Clinic.

COVID-19 vaccine clinics were held at each of the barbershop health centers in collaboration with Public Health Madison & Dane County, and 450 community residents were vaccinated.

BMWSI hosted a series of Lunch and Learns with Edgewood College nursing interns and Covering Wisconsin, an insurance navigator agency based out of UW–Madison. Extending its partnership with Covering Wisconsin, the BMWSI added an onsite insurance navigator which has helped connect 115 low-income barbershop clientele with BadgerCare coverage.

BMWSI added two new Barbershop Men’s Health and Education Centers which provide services to an additional 1,000 Black men. As a result, the BMWSI is connected with more than 7,000 barbershop clientele who can participate in surveys and regularly scheduled focus groups.

BMWSI also launched the Black Men’s Health Community Advisory Board (CAB) in partnership with SSM Health. The addition of CAB has influenced other communities to replicate the BMWSI’s health model. The organization worked with SSM Health to successfully implement the Barbershop Health Model in Freeport, Illinois to help improve the health of Black residents in this community.

Looking to the Future

In 2020 the Rebalanced Life Wellness Association and the Urban League of Greater Madison received a five-year $1 million grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program for the initiative Black Men’s Mental Health and Well-Being. This new project aims to improve the mental-emotional health and well-being of Black men in Southeastern Wisconsin to achieve higher quality and longer lives for Black men.

Read the grant announcement