“People ask me, ‘How are you doing?’ and I say, ‘Pretty good for a Black woman in America,’” says Jan Robinson-Flint, a founder and the Executive Director of Black Women for Wellness (BWW).

Behind her wry smile is a world of understanding. And behind Jan's leadership, there's a line of ancestors on whose shoulders she stands. As a community organizer with a background as a health educator, Jan works for positive change both personal and political. She’s pleased when a nursing mother learns through Black Women for Wellness about toxic chemicals in hair care products. She’s equally pleased when Black Women for Wellness co-sponsors a new state law that bans BPA, the toxic chemical in baby bottles and sippy cups, as happened in 2011. Because African American women have lower rates of breast-feeding, their infants are disproportionately exposed to BPA  and BWW members were powerful advocates, lobbying in Sacramento on behalf of their babies and grandbabies.

“Why is there a need for Black Women for Wellness?” asks Jan. “Because when I look at the health status of Black women, everything I see is a glaring problem. When I look at our levels of obesity, there we are. If I look at heart disease, there we are. If I look at infant mortality, the story is very sad. We have more babies die before their first birthday than any other group in this country. When I look at the rates of STDs, who has a problem? Black women have to get together and do something about it.”

Black Women for Wellness launched in 1995. “Our first program was Shangazi, which means ‘auntie’ in Swahili,” says Jan of the group’s mentoring program for expectant mothers. In the past 12 years, there have been programs focusing on reproductive health, healthcare accessibility, environmental impacts on health and other issues. The group’s main forum for organizing is “Sisters at Eight.” “Sisters meet at eight in the morning to talk about the issues and the challenges, the rumors, the policy, whatever is going on in the neighborhood so we can put solutions to it.”

 
Being a grantee of the Liberty Hill community is not just a matter of receiving funding, Jan discovered. She and other BWW members have improved their organizing and fundraising skills over two years at the Liberty Hill Wally Marks Leadership Institute for Change, and have focused their efforts to build a strong, sustainable organization.



The experience has been "a confidence-builder," Jan says. “Liberty Hill has a sincere interest in having us reach our goals and in having us create that change in the world. They introduce us to other activists and advocates. That’s a big deal. It’s a big deal for our board to be able to meet donor-activists who are very much interested in the health and well-being of our community, people who say, ‘We are all trying to change the world and we can all do this together. We can do it in different ways.’”

Top Priority on her 2012 Change Agenda? To build a confab of black women's organizations to put our voices together to impact our health and well being. The secret to their success, Jan says, is that BWW makes Black women feel good about themselves and their community and that, in turn, helps motivate them to create change in the world.

More Liberty Hill 2012 Leaders to Watch >>