When You Give a Little, It Helps a Lot!

Even before you give to Balm in Gilead for Communities of Color (BIG4COC), we want to first say thank you. Our mission is focused on structural, cultural, economic, religious, gender and environmental racism and their interrelated disparities and inequalities within education, housing, health, environment, and culture.

BIG4COC is led by a group of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) graduates, faith leaders and believers who are public health advocates steeped in the rich, uplifting and communal African “village” tradition of pride, purpose, power, protest, pedagogy, preaching, prayer, perception, protection, perseverance, passion, people, praise and peace.

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

Our focus includes safe housing, transportation, and neighborhoods; racism, discrimination, and violence; education, job opportunities, and income; access to nutritious foods and physical activity opportunities; polluted air and water; language and literacy skills.

Medical Apartheid

Our consumer education campaigns call attention to medical apartheid such as Black Maternal Mortality, where Black women in the U.S. are about three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause as others, partly because of racial bias they may experience in getting care and doctors not recognizing risk factors such as high blood pressure.

Food Insecurity and Food Inequities

Our public health communications campaigns call attention to food inequities where low-income, impoverished Black and Hispanic neighborhoods have fewer large supermarkets and more small grocery corner stores, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants than White neighborhoods.

Low Life Expectancy

We produce podcasts and consumer education campaigns that focus on communities with low life expectancy.

Harm Reduction

We are supporters of proactive, evidence-based harm reduction approaches and interventions such as drug decriminalization or legalization aimed to reduce the harms associated with drug and alcohol use.

Your generous support helps bring us closer to this goal.