Empower Me Wellness Project: Collaborating for Health Equity for Black Women
Over the past four years we have mobilized the strategies we envisioned around our most critical work and have taken our conversation around Black women’s health from a whisper to a movement.
– Lisa Peyton-Caire founder, president and CEO of Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness
At a Glance
In Dane County, Black women and their families face the largest gaps in health care access and timely use of health care services. With this grant, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness (FFBWW) was successful in establishing initiatives and approaches to successfully address and bridge these gaps. FFBWW launched a community-based Community Health Worker program, a Wellness Ambassador Program and initiatives that aim to improve birth outcomes for Black women and birthing persons.
FFBWW used this grant to implement comprehensive health promotion and education programming to broadly serve and provide health improvement learning opportunities and experiences to Black women in and beyond Dane County. FFBWW also grew its Health Equity Internship Program which has become a sought-after training ground for emerging health care professionals and health equity leaders. Additionally, the FFBWW has become deeply involved in local and statewide policy work and published the Black Women Deserve Policy Blueprint Preamble. Through this work, FFBWW also has cultivated several partnerships with community partners, national policy and advocacy partners, private organizations and public agencies including philanthropy, health systems and government.
The Challenge
In Dane County, Black women and their families face the largest gaps in health care access and timely use of health care services. African Americans remain overrepresented among the uninsured/underinsured and are less likely to receive preventive care that facilitates timely detection, diagnosis and treatment of chronic conditions than white individuals. Subsequently, African Americans remain overrepresented in all major categories of disease and illness and die at higher rates and younger ages from largely treatable and preventable illnesses compared to white individuals. These disparities in health care are compounded by high levels of poverty and disproportionately impact Black communities regardless of income, barriers to social support and knowledge of navigating systems.
Project Goals
FFBWW aimed to address and bridge these gaps through three specific priorities. First, the organization sought to influence and align the ecological landscape of health, social and quality-of-life supports available to Black women that have a direct impact on their quality of health. Second, FFBWW planned to strengthen Black women’s capacity to navigate systems and secure the assets they need to improve health and well-being for themselves, their families and their communities. Lastly, the Foundation worked to assist health systems and institutions to more effectively reach, serve and fulfill Black women’s health and quality of life needs by removing communication, cultural and access barriers.
Results
This project has been successful making significant progress on each of the Foundation’s priorities.
The organization has designed and launched a community-based Community Health Worker model. FFBWW recruited and hired three full time Community Health Workers (CHWs) who collectively serve residents and families in six high need Dane County zip codes where health disparities are most common. The CHWs offer several support services including health care and resource navigation, crisis support, peer coaching, family success planning and referrals to service providers to meet urgent needs like housing, food, childcare, transportation and mental health support.
The Wellness Ambassador Program was started and currently has 100 active Ambassadors across Wisconsin and the United States who are community-based volunteers that connect women to FFBWW programs and services; engage women in FFBWW’s health promotion, education and advocacy work; and exemplify “Well Black Women” by modeling health and sharing their own stories of empowerment.
FFBWW implemented comprehensive health promotion and education programming for Black women in the local community to create the social support and learning opportunities needed to encourage and maintain physical, mental and emotional health. The programming includes stress management strategies, weight management and lifestyle habits, personal finance education and topics of countering racism, discrimination and bias in systems and workplaces. At the strike of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, FFBWW moved its programming into the virtual space which expanded its reach to women statewide and nationally.
The FFBWW and its community and health system partners launched ConnectRx Wisconsin, a care coordination system that supports Black pregnant women and birthing persons to gain greater access to health care and family-stabilizing resources. This system is designed to reduce the occurrence of low birth weight and improve birth outcomes for Black women, birthing persons and babies in Dane County.
With this grant, the FFBWW has grown deeply involved in local and statewide policy and systems-level change work. In Fall 2021, the Foundation published the Black Women Deserve Policy Blueprint Preamble. The Blueprint offers nine pillars that are shaping statewide engagement, advocacy and actions including economic security, safe and affordable health care, equal rights, equal justice, safe and healthy communities, environmental justice, quality education, equal opportunity and freedom.
The FFBWW has become a sought-after training ground and intern and fellow host site for emerging health care professionals and health equity leaders. To date, the Health Equity Internship has hosted 36 students. Interns support substantive program, policy and research efforts.
The Foundation has also cultivated partnerships with several organizations including UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE), the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), Columbia University, Black Mamas Matter Alliance and Wisconsin Area Health Centers.