Black Women for Wellness is committed to healing, educating, and supporting Black Women! Black Women for Wellness started as sisterfriends with the Birthing Project in Los Angeles in 1999. We began as a group of women concerned about the health and well-being of our babies.As grandmothers, mothers, aunties, daughters, and sisterfriends, we found we had no choice but to take on the plethora of health issues Black women encounter.

As a non-profit, Black Women for Wellness is able to seek funding and accept donations to support our programs. BWW is a nonprofit corporation under Section 501 (c) (3) Revenue Code. Financial Contributors to BWW are tax deductible.

Our Mission

Black Women for Wellness is a multi-generational, membership-based organization committed to the well being of Black women and girls by building healthy communities through health education, empowerment and advocacy

Black Women for Wellness has touched the lives of over 15,000 women (and our families) with health information and education through:

♥ Trainings of Peer Health Motivators to share information and education on breast & cervical cancer, well woman health and reproductive justice including HIV/AIDS prevention
♥ Participating with local, state and national advisory committees for inclusions of the concerns of Black women with policy, resource distribution and decision making
♥ Publishing an electronic newsletter and websites and maintaining a strong cyberspace presence including Facebook and Twitter
♥ Presentations, workshops and trainings with local to international groups, agencies and organizations on health and well being of Black women
♥ Producing radio programs with Some of Us Are Brave Black Women’s Radio Collective, viral videos for the internet and cable access television programs.

BWW has convened 10 conferences centered on gathering and reporting community data regarding the health and well being of Black women, Birth Stories (1999), Kindred Sisters – Strengthening the Ties Between Us (2000), Where is the Love (2001), Whose Womb is This (2002), Woman 2 Woman (2006), Old School to Hip Hop (2007), Serious Business (2008) and Respect (2009) and Respect Us (2010) with Power Shift (March 2012) focusing on community mobilization and engagement.

10 Key Facts About Black Women for Wellness

1. Black Women for Wellness has expanded the dialogue concerning HIV prevention among Black women by…

• Organizing and coordinating community dialogues between African American men and women on self-esteem, relationships and HIV.
• Training community based facilitators to conduct Let’s Talk about Sex, a safer sex workshop.
• Publishing, Celebrating the black body, health education for black women on HIV prevention with national distribution.
• Participating with community advisory boards, meetings and proposal review committees bringing our perspective – both gender and culture – to the table.

2. Black Women for Wellness is increasing communication between the Pan African communities of Women in Los Angeles through…

• Partnering with African Community resource Center for Programs and referrals.
• Participating with the institute for the study of Gender in Africa conferences and symposiums.
• Organizing Kindred sisters, an international women’s day celebration of Pan African Women.
• Hosting a delegation of Ugandan Women, including the Minister of Ethics and Integrity to Southern California that included a gala reception and round table discussion of Black women and screen a South African Film.

3. Black Women for Wellness convened and organized Birth Stories, a conference inviting western and traditional healers, midwives and health care professionals to share the stories of birth, examine Black young infant Mortality and the causes of maternal and infant health disparities suffered by the African American Community.

4. Black Women for Wellness Publishes Metamorphosis, a quarterly newsletter exploring health, policy and current events as they impact Black women. Features have included and in depth look at the impact of having no African American women as state elected representatives, a comprehensive update on birth control options available to Black women, and each issue highlights a complementary healing practice with a holistic practitioner of the healing art. Metamorphosis is distributed country wide, though we have heard our readership is statewide.

5. Black Women for Wellness has touched over 10,00 women with health information and education through…

• Training breast health motivators and Safer Sex Party facilitators as presenters for community events, health fairs and group presentations, then coordinating calendars and schedules through out Southern California.
• Participating with local and state advisory panels, proposal review committees, coalitions and organizations.
• As key organizers with statewide conference on breast health held in Los Angeles.

6. Black Women for Wellness is strengthening our presence on the digital super highway through Internet Quilt Project….

• Create a list serve of Black health leadership for policy updates and sharing general information.
• Beginning to build a virtual community form the real world of community service providers.
• Creating an interactive culturally appealing informative website for Black women.

7. Black Women for Wellness is empowering African American women to establish their own fitness plan and goals through taking the pledge to walk 1 mile a day, offering low/no fat soulful cooking classes, hosting a support chit chat session for women on a plan and organizing active events for the Sisters to participate and model.

8. Black Women for Wellness has implemented Sisters @ Eight program for three years…

• Increase the opportunity for collaboration and resource sharing among community based organizations, service providers and health care professionals.
• Creating a community forum where western and traditional healers discuss the blending and integration of healing modalities for increasing the health and well being of the black community.
• Bringing together foundations, private funders and community based organizations for relationship building toward successful funding partnerships between institutions and community.
• Introduce state offices, policy makers and grassroots leadership for dialogues on community well being.

9. Black Women for Wellness organized to save our babies. Our fast and longest program, Shangazi, matches mentors with expectant and new moms to develop support systems for those families. It is modeled after the Birthing project, yet includes women trained as advocates and as teen mentors dictated by the needs of the women who organized Black Women for Wellness. Shangazi is a Kishwahili word for auntie. Our Shangazi women are conductors on the underground Railroad to health and well being for Black women, are the aunties who help women finding themselves alone with a baby and are the grannies who have been there and done that. Shangazi have sat in hospitals with women forced to bed rest for the duration of pregnancy, have searched diligently for shelter with women on the verge of homelessness and have helped sisters create a new plan when the old one just wouldn’t work.

10. Black Women for Wellness is primarily a volunteer organization. The programs, conferences, events sponsored and published materials have been mainly through the support and generosity of our community. We are you! Black Women for Wellness needs your financial support to continue the work to which we are so passionately committed. All but one, our programs are free of charge and to date no one has been turned away due to lack of funds. All of our publications are available free. There is much work to do and we invite your partnership through donation.