The barbershop for Black men has been a place of solace, self-care and outlet for relaxation for a long time. Your barber is everything to you: stylist, doctor, therapist, life-coach etc. Imagine walking into your local barbershop and not only receiving the best shape-up of your life, but also getting your blood pressure checked.
Aaron Perry of Madison, Wisconsin decided that he wanted to use barbershops as the platform to start his own wellness initiative, The Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association Men’s Health and Education Center.
The Dane County organization strives to reduce health disparities for Black men in Madison by providing services in the following areas: health education, health screenings, and social service support. Perry started this center in 2016 in the backroom of JP Hair Design in Madison to help teach the customers about health issues that affect Black people and Black men especially.
The idea for the health center came from Perry’s visits to the shop and overhearing the health challenges of men in the room. African-American men in Wisconsin have a life expectancy seven years shorter than white men. In Dane County where RLWA is housed, Black men suffer from cancer, obesity, and diabetes at a higher rate compared to whites.
Perry surely has prepared the community to respond as The Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association has received a $300,000 grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program. This grant will allow him to
expand his vision to many more barbershops throughout the Dane County community.
The money from this grant came from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health which also awarded another organization dedicated to helping Black people, The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness.
The first order of business for Perry is to start his Black Men’s Wellness Sustainable Initiative and expand to other barber and beauty shops. The current list of shops is: Vernee Nycole House of Beauty, JT Barber Hair Design Studios, B. Right Barbershop, Atwood Barbershop, COG Barber & Beauty Hair Salon, Resilient Hair Designs and Barberstown.
“We have to do something to move that needle and improve these health disparities,” said Aaron Perry. “That’s the goal of what we are trying to do and the initiative is our Black Men’s Wellness Sustainable Initiative, so that’s a four-year initiative, that we are very excited about.”
The other sites won’t have a full health center, but they will contain health education materials. The long-term goal is to pair medical students from the University of Wisconsin with each barbershop to provide services such as health screenings. On the horizon is also an initiative called “Brown Boys Read” a peer education program. Perry is doing amazing work for the city of Madison.
“It’s just good energy when you feel like someone sees your vision. This has been an effort of blood, sweat, and tears. ” Perry said.
“We’re going to change this community. We’re going to move that needle.”
Daunte Henderson, founder of the MADEMAN Foundation, author, and educator based in Chicago. You can follow him at @brotherhenderson on IG
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