GRATITUDE & GIVING
As we enter the season of gratitude and giving, The Black Women’s Agenda, Inc. (BWA) gives thanks for the 21 women’s organizations – sororities, civic, service, and faith-based – that serve as its National Collaborating Organizations (NCOs) and partners in protecting, securing and advancing the rights of millions of women worldwide. Together with our NCOs, BWA has established numerous programs to support Black women and their families. These include:
- Because We Care – a series of free forums that provide African-American women and their families with the information and resources to take better care of their loved ones and themselves.
- BWA GE All Faces Program – a partnership with GE Healthymagination that increases breast cancer screenings in the African-American community by conducting outreach activities that raise awareness about the importance of getting screened and utilized new technology, customized materials, and resources to help reduce breast cancer disparities.
- Four for 4 – Four People, Four Votes, Four Years, and Foresight – an initiative that engages the members of BWA’s National Collaborating Organizations in raising awareness, educating voters, and ensuring that at least four people, including themselves, vote on Election Day.
- Inform & Inspire – workshops that provide middle school girls in cities across the U.S. with the opportunity to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics with African-American women who are working in these fields, and that encourage the girls to consider pursuing STEM-related degrees and careers, and
- The Bright Futures Awards – which recognize students whose academic achievements and service to school and community distinguish them as future leaders and success stories.
Your support of our collective efforts provides BWA and its NCOs with the inspiration and motivation to lift up Black women and to make sure that our voices are heard. In the coming months, we ask that you consider learning more about our organizations, taking part in one of the many activities we sponsor, or furthering our work by making a donation. The “National Collaborating Organizations” button on our homepage provides links to our NCOs. Here’s wishing you a safe and joyous holiday season!
OTHER NEWS
SPOTLIGHT FEATURE ON JACK AND JILL OF AMERICA, INC.
To be valued and loved. To know who you are and that you have the power to make a
difference. These are the aspirations that most mothers have their children. In 1938, in the midst
of the Great Depression, twenty African-American mothers in Philadelphia came together not to
hope or to dream, but to provide the opportunities, experiences, and life lessons that would
enable their children and others to live these truths. Their group became Jack and Jill of
America, Inc. – an organization that’s mission is as relevant today as it was some 80 years ago.
JUNE IS AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC APPRECIATION MONTH
This June, The Black Women’s Agenda, Inc. (BWA) joins our nation in celebrating the 40th Anniversary of African American Music Appreciation Month.
The month-long observance, which was first inducted on June 7, 1979, by President Jimmy Carter was christened as Black Music Month. President Barack Obama renamed the national observance as African-American Music Appreciation Month. The observance was created to recognize and celebrate the historical influence African-Americans have had on the music industry and is intended to pay homage to the many artists, writers, songs and albums that have inspired music lovers and shaped American pop culture.
May Is Lupus Awareness Month
In honor of Lupus Awareness Month, the Lupus Foundation of America released a new survey they recently commissioned which reveals the need for better public understanding of this devastating autoimmune disease and why early diagnosis is so important.
According to the Lupus Foundation of America, “The survey sample was designed to be reflective of the U.S. population’s diverse demographics. Women of color are at two to three times greater risk for developing lupus than Caucasian women. However, over half of respondents (62%) didn’t recognize that minority populations were disproportionately impacted by lupus.
Minority women tend to develop lupus at a younger age, experiencing more serious complications and have higher mortality rates. This was reflected among minority respondents who indicated they were also more worried about developing the disease than others surveyed: 44% compared to 29% of the sample overall.”
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