The Foundation for Black Women's Wellness

2020 recap of our work in pictures, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

*FFBWW Founder and President Lisa Peyton-Caire standing in the future home of the Black Women's Health and Wellness Center with a photo of her late Mother Roberta W. Peyton who is the inspiration behind the organization's work.

FRIENDS! HELP US OPEN THE FIRST BLACK WOMEN'S HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTER IN DANE COUNTY, WISCONSIN!

A Message From Our Founder, Lisa Peyton-Caire

Thirteen years ago on May 22, 2006, my Mother Roberta W. Peyton, died at the age of 64 from congestive heart failure in a tiny dimly lit hospital room in Richmond, Virginia. That devastating moment in my life  became the powerful catalyst that sparked the work I now lead as Founder & President of the Foundation for Black Women's Wellness . 

My Mom's death reflects a disturbing and persistent trend in communities across the United States,  including right here in Dane County, Wisconsin where Black women die every day at alarming and disproportionate rates and at far younger ages than our peers from largely preventable illnesses. In fact, Wisconsin leads the nation in health disparities impacting Black women and their families. 

The unacceptable deaths I witnessed of dozens of women close to me and throughout my community, and the life-altering damage of chronic illness and stress on the lives of too many others led me to launch Black Women's Wellness Day  on May 22, 2009. And three years after that in 2012, I launched the Foundation with a committed group of women who believed in the urgency of our mission to empower Black women to transform our health, save our own lives, and to disrupt the disparities that keep far too many of us sick and struggling. 

Over the last seven years, we've made powerful progress impacting  thousands of women!  We're supporting women every day to reduce their risks,  live more active lifestyles,  access health insurance and quality healthcare services, become more informed healthcare consumers, achieve stability in their daily lives, and to  raise their voices as leaders and advocates on issues that impact their lives. Along the way, we've inspired greater public accountability for investing in Black women as a community imperative, and as one supported stated, we've "moved the discussion of Black women's health in Greater Madison and Wisconsin from a whisper to a movement!"


And today, we are taking another bold step forward in advancing the health of Black women in Dane County by opening the first Black Women's Heath & Wellness Center in our community! 

We've raised our first $100,000 and have officially secured the space we need on Madison's west side in the middle of two of our city's highest need zip codes, 53719 and 53711, where Black women's health and birth outcomes face big risks.  For the last 8 years, we've worked from cubicles without a central place to carry out all we do, and now we have space that opens up so many more possibilities. It is already becoming the joyful, healing, community space that we envision and a hub of hope for what we can build here together in our community to truly elevate Black women's health and to improve our outcomes.  Our team is actively meeting and planning in the space, and women are calling to inquire about services and opportunities to join in our efforts!

May 22, 2019 Press Conference announcing plans to open the Black Women's Health & Wellness Center. Photo by Hedi Rudd.

Next step is to get the doors open! We are enlisting the help of local designers, drawing out our plans, refreshing our branding, and thinking deeply about our programming and services and how we will expand them. We are capturing the feedback and ideas from women we directly serve about how the center can be responsive to their needs, and considering what we need to sustain and grow our core programming. 

Of course, we've learned in the process that opening is one thing, but operating and sustaining is another---and capacity is key! Raising the first $100,000 to get the center up and running was a huge ask of our community and we are so grateful for the incredible response we received. We now aim to expand our staff beyond myself and 2 part time outreach specialists to include a Director of Programs; and to invest more dollars in our core prevention and education programs, and in enhancing our technology. We want our center to be innovative and to truly deliver what we need to move the needle on eliminating the health disparities that are hampering Back women's health here in our community. 

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO  ACHIEVE  OUR NEW GOAL! 

Founder & President Lisa Peyton-Caire and team meeting in the new Center space to plan next steps after raising the first $100,000!


WHY OUR HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTER IS SO IMPORTANT FOR BLACK WOMEN IN DANE COUNTY

In Dane County and the State of Wisconsin, Black women are more likely to:

• Live with and die at higher rates and younger ages from largely treatable and/or preventable illnesses like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke & Alzheimer’s.

• Have limited access to quality healthcare services and be uninsured or underinsured.

• Experience higher rates of cancer, more aggressive forms of cancer, and higher cancer mortality than our white peers.

• Give birth to babies who are 2 times more likely to be born too small and too soon, threatening their healthy development and their survival in the first year of life.

 • Experience higher rates of infant mortality—and are 3 times more likely to die in childbirth than our peers. Wisconsin leads the nation in Black infant mortality.  

• Face well-documented and over-studied social and economic barriers that contribute to and compound these and other poor health outcomes.