When elite athletes, led by an iconic enterprise capital partner and a number one cancer organization, could make great strides to make sure a healthy future for all.

Featuring NBA stars Devin Booker, D’Angelo Russell and Charles Barkley; media legend Michael Wilbon; and Jim Reynolds, founding father of Loop Capital – the biggest minority-owned investment banking firm within the United States – owners Coco5, a very natural, low-calorie alternative to sweet sports drinks. Reynolds’ sports legends have joined forces with the American Cancer Society in a multi-year collaboration – the Fuel the Fight initiative – pledging to donate a portion of all Coco5 proceeds (0.05 per bottle with a minimum commitment of $300,000) to cancer treatment initiatives in underserved communities. This includes funding for key services reminiscent of screenings, educational programs and 24/7 support for cancer patients.

This partnership comes at a pivotal time as cancer rates in Black and Brown communities remain consistently high attributable to lack of access to quality health care, adequate screening and inexpensive health insurance, resulting in deaths from preventable cancers. According to American Cancer Society, Black men are greater than twice as more likely to die from prostate cancer than their white counterparts, and black women have a 41% higher breast cancer mortality rate than white women. Early detection through screening and regular visits to a health care skilled has been shown to reverse these rates. AND University of Michigan study in JAMA Oncology Analyzing data from 306,100 men – including 54,840 black men aged 59 to 71 within the Veterans Affairs system – they found that black and white men of comparable age, socioeconomic status and cancer characteristics reminiscent of levels of prostate cancer (PSA), stage and stage of cancer (markers of cancer aggressiveness) – death rates were comparable after they had similar access to care and standard treatment, highlighting the importance of routine screening and access to high-quality resources.

Reynolds, a Chicago resident and board member of the University of Chicago Medical School, was surprised to learn concerning the vast health disparities that existed in his hometown. Naturally, he jumped into motion.

Health

“The dean of the medical school asked me a question… he said Jim, do you know where the sickest population in the United States lives? My first thought was somewhere in the Deep South – maybe Appalachia, Mississippi, or Alabama – but to my surprise, it was Chicago’s South Side. I couldn’t believe it. “He said that on the South Side of Chicago we over-index every major disease that kills, including cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, lung disease… everything,” Reynolds said. “It made me aware of health disparities. Through our partnership with the American Cancer Society, I am clear on the mission and want us to work to screen Black and Brown people for cancer earlier.”

Through this collaboration, Reynold hopes to enhance cancer prevention, screening,

and awareness in traditionally underserved communities, leveraging strength

storytelling, social and sporting events and fascinating athletes to assist make a difference.

“We speak about wealth disparities, financial disparities, even education disparities, but we do not speak about health and early detection. I’ll bet you dollars a donut that you most likely know someone who died from cancer that was probably curable. It touched everyone, so now we’re talking about it,” Reynolds said. “Information is power. Quite a lot of information doesn’t reach the people we wish to succeed in in such a way that it’s received in one of the best ways, and loads of this has to do with the messenger. People will hearken to the Michael Wilbon, Charles Barkley and Devin Booker they watch on TV every night.

The Fuel the Fight initiative is an example of a radical change in sports support. It values ​​athlete ownership and social impact over pure profit. Athletes are actively difficult the outdated “shut up and play” mentality that has dominated sports for too long. By using their platforms, athletes drive positive social change. Fans and consumers have a responsibility to maintain these crucial conversations about health equity and racial disparities alive. Recognizing the ability of partnerships, social movements and even sporting gatherings can spur real change.

Reynolds and his team recognize the necessity for a long-term commitment to health equity, specializing in increasing the participation of Black and Brown people in clinical trials. However, Reynolds acknowledges that significant obstacles have to be overcome before this goal could be fully realized.

“In the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, they performed clinical trials on us without our consent or knowledge, and I think some of that suspicion still exists among Black people,” Reynolds said. “But as more and more people gain the knowledge and confidence and realize that this is something that is OK, (that) this is something that is good for you, I think there will be a turnaround.”

This cooperation is not going to replace the dream of healthy equality. It’s greater than that – a robust ally. Systemic changes are still urgently needed. Transparency in health care costs, greater availability and access to health care employees who appear to be us, and a path to universal health care – these are the last word goals. But within the meantime, some of these partnerships are a welcome sight for healthcare employees and medical staff who are uninterested in beating the identical drum with little response. It signals that others want to hitch the fight, amplify the message and reach completely latest audiences. And perhaps, just perhaps, with these influential voices at our side, the drumbeat of health equity will finally begin to interrupt the defining silence of presidency and corporations which have put profit over people.

The maternal mortality rate for Black women has improved, returning to pre-pandemic levels, but stays an area of ​​concern, in line with latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022, the general death rate returned to 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, significantly lower than in 2021, when it was as high as 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births. This resulted in a drop within the rate from 69.9 to 49.5 for black women.

reports that this indicator still raises serious concerns amongst experts. Jennie Joseph, midwife and founding father of Commonsense Childbirth Inc. he told the outlet that she still worries about what these numbers mean for black women. “We leveled as much as where we were, which is still terrible. We do not know until the following set of numbers are available,” Joseph said, before continuing: “These deaths are preventable irrespective of how we count them.”

Now, with actual post-pandemic numbers only a yr old, it’s hard for experts to pinpoint exactly what led to the decline in numbers, but some speculate it could be because of increased awareness of and use of midwives and doulas’ services, or just the indisputable fact that that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on childbirth overall. Others hypothesized that the true effect would only be felt in just a few years, when the impact of rural hospital closures and shortages of gynecologists and obstetricians could be truly reflected within the statistics.

Dr. Yolanda Lawson, an obstetrician and gynecologist and president of the National Medical Association, said huge disparities for black women led her to imagine that the dearth of adequate maternal health care was affecting the variety of black women. On May 9, Lawson will testify on maternal health disparities before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education and Pensions.

“The disparity persists and is not going away, as seen in the data for Black women compared to Caucasian and non-Caucasian women. Access is important in many ways. We know we have a maternal health care desert in this country. We have states that have not expanded Medicaid because of not only maternal and infant mortality but also disparities.” Lawson said. “We must continue to ensure that we support countries in implementing quality improvement projects and initiatives.”

Despite improving numbers, the United States continues to have the worst maternal outcomes amongst high-wage countries, some extent of emphasis by Dr. Angela Bianco, director of maternal-fetal medicine and professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences on the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai. “Because our statistics are rather abysmal, there has been a call to arms across the country to address the maternal mortality crisis, which is definitely disproportionately affecting women of color,” Bianco said, before emphasizing that a powerful mental health support system could help improve results while pregnant. birth process.

“There’s also mental health. “Mental health is largely directly linked to maternal morbidity, maternal outcomes and mortality,” Bianco said. “So if you can optimize your physical and mental health, have a strong support system, have providers that you can build trusting relationships with, and then, if necessary, also use support services like a birth doula to really have more make sure you’re well protected and make sure you’re in a hospital that provides all the services you need – that’s really the best way to ensure perfect results.”

Heather Lowery doesn’t consider in adding energy to stacked opportunities.

This is sensible because she’s an expert anomaly: a black, female, successful music industry insider turned entrepreneur. Translating this into numbers, the 12 months 2021 data shows that just 13.9% of senior executives across various sectors of the music industry are from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, 4.2% are Black, and 13.9% are women. This number is even lower when counting black women in leadership positions.

Lowery at all times knew this, which is why she founded her company Woman, forwarda three way partnership with Live Nation that prioritizes the attention, development and advancement of women in leadership positions in the music industry.

“Despite these {grim} numbers, I’m not really concerned about the walls we always face, because we’re always breaking down walls – we’re always pushing boundaries,” Lowery tells ESSENCE. “We always dominate. I like to focus on the positives. So my mission is to give women the tools they need to sit at every table and be in every room, even if that means building their own. I’m focusing on that.”

The latest initiative of Femme It Forward, the so-called MUSE (Musicians Uplifting Stars Everyday) Mentorship Program, a seven-month educational program specifically geared toward uplifting and empowering emerging creative women. It will provide female-identifying musicians at the starting of their careers with access and mentorship from celebrities and advisors including Teyana Taylor, Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys. Rapsody, Trina and Amber Riley are amongst a bunch of recognized industry veterans who will function mentors.

“If you look at the definition, it means a woman or a force personified as a woman who is a source of inspiration for creative artists,” Lowery tells ESSENCE. This is the perfect embodiment of that.”

The mentorship program is specifically geared toward songwriters, producers, composers, engineers and DJs who wish to take their careers to the next level with the help of stars who’ve seen and overcome all of it.