Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program to Host

African American Men's Health and Empowerment Summit

First Conference of its Kind to Address African American Health Crisis

LOS ANGELES - It is difficult to dispute the fact that the African American community is experiencing a health crisis, that left without aggressive intervention, will undermine the promise and potential of the historic political achievements we have all witnessed. African American men, sometimes referred to as the forgotten population or even the endangered species, disproportionately experience health care disparities resulting in health outcomes comparable to men living in developing countries. The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program will be hosting a Health and Empowerment Summit in Los Angeles to address and improve the African American health crisis.

“1ST ANNUAL AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN'S HEALTH AND EMPOWERMENT SUMMIT”

Saturday, February 28, 2009

8:00am-3:00pm

California Science Center

Exposition Park, 39th Street & Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90037

Free and Open to the Public

Entertainment and a continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

To register, call 800-447-6388 or visit www.blackbarbershop.org

Assemblymember Mike Davis will be joined by experts including Dr. Eddie Jackson, PhD., President, Medgar Evers College and Founder of the Men's Initiative in New York and Dr. Carol Adams, PhD., Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, State of Illinois. Many other experts are scheduled to attend. Partnering organizations will provide opportunities for free health screenings.

Panel discussions will cover a wide spectrum of health and social issues affecting African American men including health care disparities, smoking and other addictive substances, diabetes, HIV, prostate cancer and incarceration rates.

The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program, founded by Dr. Bill J. Releford, seeks to empower African American men to better understand cardiovascular diseases through education and prevention. On a national scale, the barbershop program screens African American men for diabetes and high blood pressure in various barbershops around the country and provides needed education about healthy lifestyle alternatives. The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program is proud to have the Abbott Fund as a national sponsor. The Abbott Fund is committed to addressing health care disparities in African American men around the country.

Contact: Courtney White

Phone: 248-672-2318

Email: courtney@blackbarbershop.org