About Us

The health crisis that faces Black men in the United Sates has been well documented. From the time he is born until he dies, Black males have a shorter life span than their white counterparts and the lowest life expectancy of nearly all racial groups in the United States. African American men have higher rates of hypertension, cancer, diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, than white men. No aspect of the genetic makeup of Black men explains the tremendous disparity between their health and that of white men’s. It is clear that Black men are confronted with numerous obstacles in obtaining and preserving good health. Economic marginality, poor educational opportunities, racism, and dangerous environments contribute to stress, despair, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as family instability for black men. These social inequalities, gendered coping responses to stress, as well as the overall societal practice of discriminatory and disrespectful treatment of Black men, contribute to a greater proclivity towards unhealthy behaviors and aversion to accessing the health care system.

Project Brotherhood began in November of 1998 at Woodlawn Health Center, one of the ambulatory health centers of the Cook County Health and Hospital’s System on the south side of Chicago. Project Brotherhood seeks to create a safe, respectful, male-friendly place where a wide range of health and social issues confronting black men can be addressed. It is designed to expand the health services for black men beyond those provided through the traditional medical model. The success of our program depends on providing culturally competent and respectful services under the leadership of black men.

Project Brotherhood was designed by a multi-disciplinary team including nurses, physicians, social workers, administrators, men and women who spent time talking with Black men to determine what bothered them about the medical services they had received in the past and what programs would be helpful to draw men into healthcare. For over a decade Project Brotherhood has turned Thursday evenings at Woodlawn Health Center into a very different place. The entire staff, from lab techs to reception clerks, wears their Project Brotherhood shirts, and the word of the evening is to show respect to Black men. The evening always includes free haircuts and food and the year provides special events from Juneteenth and Kwanza celebrations to prostate cancer prevention programs.

Thursday evenings always have a social support group meeting where the topic of discussion ranges from local or national headlines, unemployment or violence to cancer prevention and treatment. Nothing is off limits and the most controversial and difficult topics are routinely discussed from violence against women to the role of gay black men in the community. Many of the participants are part of drug rehabilitation programs, about 40% of Project Brotherhood participants have been incarerated. Often there are more formal “Fatherhood” or “Manhood” classes held. During these social support sessions a Black physician is often present, not as a lecturer but as a participant. It is this relationship of equals among brothers that encourages many participants to agree to be tested for HIV, or agree after many years to visit our doctors in an exam room.

Every effort is made to shorten or eliminate wait times to see physicians. Men who have recently been laid off and have no funds for their medicine, men who need a physical as part of a job application, men who have not been to a doctor in years all a welcome to Project Brotherhood on Thursday evenings. This male friendly atmosphere is designed for Black men, however men of all races and ethnicities are welcome and present. Often programs around the city have nowhere to turn. Recently, several vans of men from Chicago’s Little Village Community arrive in mass for HIV screening one Thursday night. In the midst of this bustling time sits the Project Brotherhood barber offering free haircuts and bringing the barbershop atmosphere to the health center.

These core Thursday Project Brotherhood programs also offer an important place to train health professional students and serve more importantly as a mentoring and training ground for young Black men. So while Northwestern University medical students routinely spend time at Project Brotherhood, Black men in nursing, medicine, social work and a variety of other disciplines find their way to PB and volunteer in our programs. The reason is sad, there are very few places where you can find Black male health professionals working together providing excellent medical and social services. Perhaps the largest impact in terms of training has been on our high school students who work in the program. These young men have Black professionals to work with, adults who query them about grades, school attendance and life goals. More than half of these young men have gone on to college, and four or five have entered graduate school. Their time in Project Brotherhood has had a profound impact on their educational and career plans.

Project Brotherhood has long ago branched out from the core Thursday program. We now offer regular programming (non-medical) at Provident Hospital and Englewood Health Center. Project Brotherhood has a network of a dozen barbershops where the barbers are specially trained to address colon and prostate cancer as well as HIV education. We have developed a HIV Ambassador training program which equips high school and college students to engage in educational programs with their peers. Project Brotherhood has intensive outreach on health issues with the oldest and largest sixteen inch softball league in the nation, which happens to be African-American. Project Brotherhood’s social worker is employed at Cermak Health Services at Cook County Jail and helps transition inmates leaving the facility into Project Brotherhood programs.

Whether it is on the baseball field, basketball court, or just hanging on the corner, Project Brotherhood has become a trusted source of health information and services for men on the Southside of Chicago. Project Brotherhood has presented its program and research at a wide variety of professional conferences. We have been honored with the James Wright Award from the National Association of Public Hospitals and have received numerous positive attention from the press. The Center for Disease Control has recognized Project Brotherhood as an outstanding program that can help reduce health inequities. Project Brotherhood will be featured in an upcoming episode of CNN’s Black in America.

FUNDING

Project Brotherhood operates within the Woodlawn Health Center (WHC), an ambulatory health center of the Cook County Health and Hospital System in Chicago, Illinois. The mission of the system is to provide comprehensive medical care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. In concrete terms this means that uninsured men can be seen, receive any diagnostic work up needed and appropriate treatment without incurring significant out of pocket expenses. PB has categorical funding through Title X, which focuses on sexual health and male reproduction as the major topic of concern. “In-kind” contributions from Cook County (salaries, overtime, cost of medical care) employ PB physicians, ancillary medical staff and services. PB currently has one full time staff member and two part-time staff members. Through grant funding PB has been able to hire young men in high school and college during the summer and keep some during the school year. This has been an exciting program and black men throughout the health center network have consistently volunteered for Project Brotherhood.

We would like to give special thanks to the funders and supporters of Project Brotherhood:
The Department of Health and Human Services
The Department of Human Services
The Illinois Department of Public Health
The Office of Minority Health
The American Cancer Society