- 4 weeks ago
Karamo Brown, NBA star Baron Davis, WalkGood LA founder Etienne Maurice and Dr. David Malebranche, executive director of Global HIV Medical Affairs at Gilead take part in a "Black Equity, Black Excellence: The Power of Purpose" conversation that revolved around the mental, physical and financial health of Black men at the THR x Social Impact Fund's Social Impact Summit.
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00:00welcome to an important and timely conversation black equity black excellence and the power
00:06of purpose as you heard my name is alfonso david i am a civil rights lawyer i'm also the president
00:12and the ceo of the global black economic forum where we work on advancing economic opportunity
00:18and equity for marginalized communities as well as people of color and we do that by bringing
00:24together leaders across business government philanthropy advocacy health care and culture
00:30the work is rooted in one simple truth economic power health and justice are inseparable you cannot
00:38talk seriously about black excellence without also talking about the systems that determine
00:44who has access to capital who had access to care who has access to opportunity and actually the
00:51ability to thrive now with respect to our health which is why we're all here
00:57we know that health extends far beyond going to the doctor or having access to medical care
01:05health is influenced by where people are born where they grow where they work where they worship
01:11and how old they are access to quality education economic opportunity stable housing nutritious food
01:21safe neighborhoods mental health resources equitable health care all of those play critical roles in
01:27determining whether individuals and communities can actually thrive and for far too long black men
01:34those of us on this stage representing black men in this country have faced systemic barriers that have
01:40contributed to disparities in physical health mental well-being life expectancy and overall quality of life
01:48the statistics paint a sobering picture black men have one of the shortest life expectancies
01:55of any demographic group in this country black adults are among the highest rates of or have the highest rates
02:04of hypertension not just here in the u.s but around the world and the leading cause of death
02:10for black men is heart disease black men also have the highest cancer death rate of any racial or ethnic
02:20group
02:20in the entire nation yet along these stark challenges exist an equally powerful story one of resilience
02:31leadership innovation and purpose and today we have the privilege of hearing from
02:36and extraordinary group of black male philanthropists leaders across medicine sports business media and
02:44grassroots wellness to examine how we move beyond symbolic gestures and short-term charity towards sustained
02:54investment in our health and the well-being of black men so once again welcome to an esteemed panel
03:00and we're going to get started we don't have that much time
03:04but i'm going to start with you doctor and i want to talk about the new models of philanthropy
03:10as we think about systemic challenges we all know about our objectives of you know supporting our
03:18communities sometimes we donate to our favorite charity now when we think about new models of philanthropy
03:27i want to talk about representation in medicine
03:29and representation in medicine for black men and brown people specifically is very low
03:37and as a result there's a lot of medical mistrust
03:40in the community as a physician and as a leader at gilead sciences how does corporate partnerships
03:48fund how do you actually look at corporate partnerships not to only fund medical treatments
03:53but to fundamentally dismantle this challenge that we have of systemic biases within the medical profession
04:00yeah i i think within the time that i have i can stomp out racism transphobia homophobia and sexism
04:08that's a tough that's a 12 tough question but what i will say is this
04:12hi everybody my name is david malbranche i'm an internal medicine physician and public health official hiv
04:17specialist i've worked for gilead science in their medical affairs department for probably about four
04:22years now um one of the things that i would say just about philanthropy is that gone are the days
04:27where people can just think you can sprinkle money on something and that's going to help it's not
04:32sustainable and it also doesn't help people to become empowered so i think the model that we're really
04:39looking at with philanthropy is how do you invest in what's already there and then how do you create
04:44things when you see gaps in other areas and so by the investment what i'll say is this and as
04:49an hiv
04:49specialist and a clinician i can still say that of all the new hiv diagnoses in the united states about
04:5740 percent are among black people and about 50 percent are in the south and i'm based in atlanta georgia
05:03originally from schenectady new york but migrated down because i couldn't stay in the snow um but i think
05:09one of the things that we do at gilead we have several programs and we don't have time to go
05:13over
05:13all of them but two that i want to bring to the attention is one called the focus initiative um
05:18which is a 24 million dollar investment over 180 partners but really focusing on infrastructure
05:25that's already there whether it's urgent care centers whether it's emergency rooms whether it's
05:29federal qualified health centers which are called fqhcs what you do is figure out what's going on there
05:34and see how you can increase the investment in things like hiv testing sexual health screening and
05:41if someone is either testing negative or positive we call that the status neutral approach you get
05:47tested and if you get diagnosed with hiv you go on a treatment cascade where you can see somebody get
05:52linked to care immediately but if you're negative you can also be linked to hiv prevention services
05:56like pre-exposure prophylaxis or prep those kind of things can happen and what you see is instead of
06:02coming in thinking okay we know everything and we're going to sprinkle the money or these are our ideas
06:07you actually invest in what's already there so that's the focus program there's also a program
06:12called compass which was a hundred million dollar 10-year initiative uh that worked with other over
06:18400 organizations that was targeted towards the south uh the southeast united states because you want
06:23to actually direct your services and attention to the areas that follow the epidemiology doesn't make
06:29sense to donate all these areas to like san francisco to new york to idaho if you see that 50
06:35of the new
06:35diagnosis are squarely in the southeast so that program really focused not on the testing and
06:41linkage to care in medical centers but actually focused more on community-based organizations and
06:48different places that are actually doing a lot of what we call wraparound services we have science we got
06:54the science we got medications and i'm an old school clinician i was practicing back in the day when we
06:59were just talking about behavioral health like you just need to wear condoms or not have sex
07:03like those were your two options we have medications right now and we have medications that are coming
07:09in the future that give people more options the unfortunate reality is that although the science is
07:14advancing socially we seem to be regressing so it's the hope that with programs like focus like
07:22comp focus that focus on the health care institutions themselves and helping them facilitate better hiv
07:27testing and linkage to care and then compass which really focuses on the community-based organization
07:32in the areas that are most disproportionately impacted by the disease that we can make some kind of leeway
07:38so david and yes please
07:44so you're looking at community-based organizations to help sort of dismantle this challenge that we have
07:50not help we're investing in them to amplify what they're already doing right that's the important
07:55thing is that you're not coming in as kind of a savior complex you're coming in to say let's see
08:00what
08:01you all are doing right and then coming in as partners to actually get it done so byron i want
08:06to turn to you you are a two-time nba all-star turn entrepreneur that's the tagline you've been able
08:14to
08:14bridge the worlds of sports venture capital and community building so you just heard about community
08:21based organizations sort of using community-based organizations to amplify the work that gilead is
08:27doing when you talk about moving past traditional charity how can you treat social impact and black
08:34men's wellness initiatives as a high return community investment how do you talk to people about scaling
08:41that in a way where it goes beyond traditional charity well i think um to doc's point people who are
08:48closer to
08:49the problem are closer to the solution um you know i deal a lot in you know our foundation la
08:56unified la unfd
08:59we think about the professionalism of these young athletes so a lot of these kids that are playing
09:06basketball their parents are spending a lot of money like how do you pour into them and i think that
09:12it
09:12comes with you know organizing right taking care of the coaches the people who are there the coaches
09:17who are there the tournament organizers the parks and recreations but then also following that up
09:24with the things that the kids want the media the information they're on their phones all day and so for
09:31us we
09:31think about this team's mentality right can we gamify you know information can we teach through gamification
09:40kids love trivia they love multiple choice right can we start teaching things that allow them to interact
09:48with us so we learn that data so we can amplify that and then also from you know a corporate
09:53standpoint
09:54you look at what the nba is doing with nba cares or junior nba that's just a small you know
10:01um that's like a
10:02small scratch of the surface when you think about the kids that are unserved so you have parents paying
10:07300 to 1500 a month just for their kids to train and not only are their kids training their kids
10:15are not
10:15making it because it's a very small number of kids that do and so what we do you know through
10:21teams is we
10:22teach you know um tech education media medicine sports science art um and we show you that basketball
10:32a basketball or a basketball player has the opportunity to create a hundred to a thousand jobs
10:40and so now when you start looking at the greater ecosystem of basketball and you start looking at
10:46the opportunities the kids that are playing on the basketball team they're starting to develop what
10:51they want to be when they grow up the nb the nil or high school kid that's getting paid right
10:58to now go to
10:59high schools or transfer to private schools they need they need the education the parents need the
11:04education and so what we try to do is gamify that teach that and then surround them with the things
11:11that they know you know how to be on the team so you'll know how to go from a basketball
11:15player
11:16to working in the medical field right because it takes a team to work on a patient it takes a
11:21team
11:22you know to practice medicine or production um and so when we start thinking about that we start to now
11:28say who are our celebrity friends mostly athletes because i play in the league uh but i do know a
11:34couple rappers and i know i know some great chefs and people who own restaurants and you know real
11:41estate people and so now you know we start thinking about how do we tag those people so when they
11:47come
11:47they're part of hey this is baron's team of friends and they're going to be coming in periodically
11:54not only to check on you but to also celebrate you when you do accomplish something and figure out
12:00who you want to be so interaction i know is key but also funding the coaches right because i could
12:08go
12:08out and just pay for everybody to do things but if i fund the coaches and set their infrastructure right
12:13right then they have the ability to scale and grow and they may wind up in the nba or they
12:19may wind up
12:19working for espn so i think really it's the resources but it's also organizing who gets it first who's
12:27second who's monitoring that and then who has the oversight to really um make sure that the
12:34deliverables are being able to scale how do you talk to investors about shifting the mindset from say
12:43a tax write-off to something that's more of a community-based investment that's high return for
12:50them well you look at um well you look at our culture and you say like look at the music
12:55culture
12:56right you look at black men in music make a lot of money a lot of them come from the
13:00inner city so
13:01you have to stop looking at charity as you know a you know it's going to be wiped away we
13:09want to start
13:09looking at charity as an investment we want to take part of our you know one of our partners a
13:15a um
13:17and create a new fund and have that fun look at the future of athletes right and so now we
13:23know that
13:23they'll those athletes that will make it will have the right financial infrastructure even when we're
13:29talking to brands to invest in the space it's like this investment in this youth basketball team
13:35right or uh this youth uh music camp right is going to reap rewards because they're going to be the
13:42next stars so in three or four years when you have to pay them a million dollars in high school
13:47to play basketball it's ridiculous right you have almost been able to grow and grow with their story
13:56um and so i think that when you start looking at what is investment and what is culture
14:04culture culture is always undervalued and when you look at some of the best companies the biggest
14:10companies and companies when they skyrocket they get either nervous or they smart and they say hey
14:16let's double down in culture right and i think that culture exists you know from where we come from
14:23mr brown you have dedicated a large portion of your career uh to mental health advocacy
14:33and um the statistics unfortunately are increasing certainly among young men suicide rates among black
14:41men are increasing as well uh you've talked about radical vulnerability and i want to i would give you
14:49the floor to talk a little bit about how do we move from just having conversations about mental health to
14:57actually funding and building sustainable wellness infrastructure for black men well i don't think
15:04we should move away from talking about it um i think that only talking about it i should yeah only
15:09talking about it i think that you know talking about is such an important piece but before i talk about
15:13how we build infrastructure i kind of always i always say that mental health and what we're doing starts
15:18with us it starts with you it's a self thing and so i always ask you what are you doing
15:23at home for
15:24yourself what are you doing in your own communities um a mentor of mine told me recently until someone
15:30can realize that they are an oppressor to someone else that no change is ever going to happen and that
15:37really stuck with me because we all have even me with the privileges i have there's somebody that
15:45i'm stepping on their neck and i don't even know it i'm not giving them space to be vulnerable i'm
15:49not
15:50giving them space to grow i'm not giving them opportunities i'm not stepping up the way i should
15:55for them and or i'm i'm presenting a message and we're talking about black men for me i always think
16:01about what messages are we being presented i go back to my own childhood and i think about the messages
16:05that were presented to me about like toughen up don't cry don't do this don't do that um and those
16:13messages came from women who loved me they weren't people who hated me they were women who loved me
16:19that nurtured me but didn't realize that they were through actions becoming my oppressor in certain
16:25ways and so when we were talking about like you know um going to the doctor and all these things
16:30i remember the first time i went to doctor i i didn't go because i i was doing something preventative
16:37i went because i was at my final straw it always had to be my final straw because i had
16:42been told
16:42you toughen up you work through it you don't cry you don't complain show up a certain way
16:50and so i just bring that to you to say as a challenge for you to say well what are
16:56you saying
16:57and doing in your own life and who are you affecting because when we talk about the infrastructure
17:01and we start getting into that it starts with what you're doing at home and then as you said culture
17:07matters it it then turns into how people are then saying okay i see the shift in what you're doing
17:14so i need to follow that shift in mental health i see the shift in what's happening in this space
17:20so
17:20i'm going to follow it you know i i just came from a panel where i was talking about the
17:25black church
17:26and how i'm just a black church the church period um okay let's be very real um how organized religion
17:37can be that oppressor for a lot of people and they don't realize and this is not just for gay
17:42people
17:42black people this is for women as well i watch people go into these spaces and are being oppressed
17:47constantly and then you talk about creating impact and infrastructures but the infrastructure that's in
17:53place they don't want to change they're okay with being that oppressor so because the people in that
17:58space are not changing then the infrastructure is not changing and so again this message is just saying
18:06to people look at what you're doing in your own lives if we want a greater change we learned this
18:11from
18:11michael jackson told us all you got to look at the man in the mirror right um that okay that
18:17i just
18:19say like you got to start from there you got you got to start from there because honestly if you
18:24don't
18:24do that if you don't look at that then why would any organization want to come in and change it
18:30they're
18:30just going to follow your lead this is what you're hearing they're just going to follow the lead of
18:33what's already happening and that's why you see organizations getting funding for stuff but they're
18:38not really looking at about how they're hurting as much as how they're helping and i do believe the
18:42closer you are to the problem you are to the solution but i think there also has to be a
18:46mirror
18:46that comes with that because i went to many organizations and these organizations are
18:50supposed to be helping or supplying support but the person at the top has some very skewed views
18:57that then you see trickle down into the infrastructure of the organization you see how it then plays into
19:05who they prioritize um you know what kind of black men they prioritize you know because that's something
19:13about me as well like i've experienced that when we're talking about and i don't want to belabor
19:17this too much but like i've been in the spaces where i'm a black man and yet i'm treated differently
19:23because they want to lead with my sexuality instead of the fact that i'm black they they don't want to
19:30lead with the fact that i'm going through the same mental health struggles i'm going through the same
19:34things they sort of wash it away and so um i would just say encourage everyone for us to get
19:41the
19:42infrastructures to work we have to change ourselves and i think that's the biggest thing for everyone
19:47to understand thank you thank you
19:53etienne so you are the founder of walk good la and you have brought wellness directly to the streets
20:00we didn't talk about this but i practice yoga every day come on now i know we didn't talk about
20:05this but yeah i do vinyasa yogi brother yeah exactly 115 degrees in a room by the way so it's
20:10a
20:10whole different my hot yogi brother we just do regular yogi yeah yeah so you've brought yoga running
20:18physical space as tools for collective healing and i want to give you the floor to talk about
20:25how you've taken these tools to really challenge traditional forms of philanthropy
20:31and sort of create new infrastructures for supporting black men yeah thank you for allowing me to share
20:38walk at la we started six years ago after the killing of ahmaud aubry say his name
20:44after the killing of george floyd say his name after the killing of brianna taylor say her name
20:50and the many black lives that were taken from us at the hands of racial violence and six years ago
20:56we
20:57started protesting and we started doing yoga in the park i asked my cousin to lead us in some yoga
21:02stretches not even being a yogi myself but i realized that while doing this practice that there
21:07were some things that i needed to process and things that i needed to deal with and some unprocessed
21:12grief that i had yet to really face and walk it actually is a jamaican euphemism you have any jamaicans
21:18in the room come on all right there's always one one right in the front and the jamaica is always
21:22right in the front that's right um walk it is actually a jamaican euphemism that my grandmother
21:28would always tell me and walk good really means to take care of yourself be good to yourself have a
21:34safe time when you're out there in the world but just make sure you come back home so now walk
21:39good
21:39has really taken on this new meaning now that we're making wellness accessible to our communities you
21:46know when i was introduced to yoga and meditation i didn't think i was even included in these spaces
21:51classes and i didn't really understand why and so now today we offer donation-based free yoga and
22:00meditation classes tuesday thursdays and saturdays for communities of color for people who look like
22:08everybody here sitting right next to me um we also have an amazing program called you good which is our
22:15our men's healing circle uh where we offer yoga meditation most importantly connection there's a
22:22cystic that you just brought up about the leading cause of death in black men and you said it was
22:26because of of heart failure what you might not know is the byproduct of that loneliness people are having
22:37difficult times finding communities and with walk good we want to eliminate the financial barrier for
22:46people to at least participate in these holistic practices that will make them feel alive again
22:53and so i am lucky enough to at least have some tools and resources that have helped me along the
23:00way
23:01um i am a survivor of gun violence uh i have been through uh the psych ward i've been placed
23:09on a 5150
23:10and through this work it has given me purpose and made me realize that i didn't have a walk good
23:16when
23:17i was growing up if only i had a space where i could be with other people other men who
23:22looked like me when
23:23i was going through my darkest times how much better off i could have been but then on the flip
23:28side you could
23:29say well because of what you didn't do has now propelled you to do what you are doing right now
23:36with walk good and i'm so grateful that now that there are people that are just now catching up to
23:41the wave of of what we're doing with support of organizations like the athletic brand on and uh propel
23:49they have donated uh well over a hundred thousand dollars for us to maintain our services uh that we
23:57offer in the community we have a studio space called the walk good yard where we offer our services
24:03and programs uh if you know a young brother or an old brother or an old sister and a young
24:09sister
24:10tell them to come to walk good where you can actually experience these programs that that we are
24:15offering free of charge think about it it costs forty dollars fifty dollars to take a yoga class where with
24:22us and with communities that actually are represented of these communities offering these services that
24:30is revolutionary um and i also want to bring up another key point when you think of those who are
24:40actively trying to find mental wellness services it's few and far in between and so we want to be able
24:48or we are bridging that gap so that we eliminate the barrier to access there are what psychiatrists
24:57psychologists make up four percent of the workspace out of those mental health professionals only four
25:04percent are black so think about how difficult it is for a black man or black woman to actually find
25:13a
25:13therapist to actually share their lived experience with somebody that they actually feel comfortable
25:19with then there's walk good where you can come into the space and actually meet some mental health
25:25professionals and meet other organizations that are doing this work like the black emotional and mental
25:29health collective that have been around for years supporting communities you come to walk good and
25:35actually get introduced with people that can actually help you through your mental health journey
25:39and so everything that these brothers have brought up just now with walk good we are kind of bridging that
25:47gap
25:47to make sure that everybody has a fair and accessible space to heal because it is deserved it is needed
25:56healing wellness should be looked at as a birthright not a luxury and if we could shift our minds around
26:05everything that's going on right now when because i know when we tell people you know we're doing yoga in
26:11the
26:11park it's a little crunchy it's a little woo woo you know i get it but it helps and it
26:19works because when you're
26:21doing it in community you will actually be empowered you will be inspired to actually do the work
26:34so we we could we could talk about this all day um unfortunately or fortunately depending on your
26:42perspective we only have five minutes left what i want to do is ask you the same question and then
26:50i have a
26:52quick round quick fire a 30 second responses that i need from each of you but before we get there
26:59we talked about the social determinants of health all of these things that influence why black men are
27:05dying quicker than others why black men are dying from cancer why black men are committing suicide we
27:11talked about the social determinants of health speaking on behalf of gilead how is gilead shifting the
27:18paradigm to ensure that corporate social responsibility addresses the broader underlying issues that affect
27:28health care for black men i'm gonna be real brief with this um i mentioned the compass initiative
27:33earlier that kind of invests in what communities and community-based organizations are already doing
27:39um i think there's a lot that happens with that that you get involved what was the question again i'm
27:45sorry i lost my so corporate social responsibility how do you actually engage them to address social
27:51yeah so it could be the compass initiative is an example but i think gilead has also done a lot
27:56of
27:56partnerships with churches with barber shops with hbcus um etc etc with fraternities so you can actually
28:04leverage and work with organizations of which many people who work in gilead are already members so i think it's
28:11really really important to kind of make sure we can keep on that because if we don't actually work
28:17within the communities we can't deal with these social determinants of health the one other thing i
28:21would add to that is that a lot of times what we talk about when you do interventions for hiv
28:25care
28:25because you talk about people going into care when they're diagnosed with hiv and then they fall out of
28:29care we have a phrase called wraparound services and a lot of what gilead does is fund organizations that do
28:35wraparound services that could include providing someone with housing providing someone with food
28:40providing somebody with mental health support so it's not just about the medications that they get
28:45or they take that are keeping them alive and thriving but actually giving them more of the wraparound
28:51service that can help and then the additional part of that which we don't do enough and which we need
28:55more representation of black men on are clinical trials and real world studies we need to be represented
29:01there because if you have a study that's 95 white men you can't take the results from that study and
29:06say oh that applies to all men you don't know that for certain and so in order for us to
29:10actually be
29:11represented there we have to be at the table and i'm a firm believer that even though we talk about
29:17systems and all these kind of structural inequalities people lead systems individuals are at the head so
29:23don't ever underestimate what we can do as individuals especially when we're in an area of
29:27leadership position within a company we absolutely can do a lot more that can change the entire system
29:32and that's just one person i'm gen x so i'm always going to say each one teach one because we
29:36used to
29:36wear those t-shirts back in the um back in the 90s right i don't know why you have to
29:43talk about age
29:43exactly that's all i'm going to say go ahead okay so same question but if you can answer this question
29:48from the perspective of black economic empowerment sort of how do we use black economic empowerment
29:55entrepreneurship and sports culture to specifically address social determinants of health well i think
30:02it um you have to have some type of organizational fun or um or an alliance when you look at
30:10sports
30:11there's a lot of wealthy black people in sports uh athletes but also the managers agents and so i think
30:18being able to create resources in a funnel right there is no organization yet that funds aau teams or
30:27you know funds pathways for uh kids to have opportunities to be become professionals in the
30:34sports space so the way i look at it is it's always a fun or a consorted fund of brand
30:42and participation
30:43from the athletes but in order for the economics to improve right there has to be some type of
30:49funding system right or destination system where black people can know okay i can go here to bank and i
30:57can also go here for my medical i can also go here uh you know for my mental health as
31:02well and so until
31:04we're able to really champion black success in the media in our daily lives then you know just like
31:13it's hard to find you know a mental coach it is hard to find a lot of black successful stories
31:20and you know
31:21we're all successful and so it shouldn't be a surprise it should be you know um something that's in your
31:28face and in every day and once once we have that destination that can be accomplished karamo this
31:35question um i want to talk to it to have you address it from a slightly different perspective
31:41um traditional philanthropy as we know often funds the aftermath of a crisis not preventing the crisis
31:52so you're in media you're in culture you've been in this space for quite some time
31:56how do we use storytelling how do we use community capital to shift the focus away from addressing
32:04the crisis towards preventing the crisis well first we give more people um the awareness that their
32:11voice matters and their voice carries weight and that's why when i talk about radical vulnerability
32:16it's something that is so important because the more you can talk about what what you're going through
32:21i think sometimes when we think about media we we sometimes get caught up especially in hollywood
32:25that you got to be on television you got to be on these things but like you don't know how
32:28impactful
32:29it is just to share your own story in your own community in your own house sharing what you've
32:34been through letting someone know that you made it i mean every single person in this room has some
32:39testimony you've been through something i know you have i'm looking at your faces and i know that there
32:44has been a moment that you have felt like i can't make it i can't do this i don't know
32:49how this is going
32:49to work out but you made it you never gave up and that is such an important thing in shifting
32:55everything is when you understand the importance of your story um and and understanding that telling
33:00your story is going to really help support people really changing the world and changing themselves
33:07um i i tell you one of the things that saved this is a little off topic but the one
33:10of the things
33:10that saved my life and i just want to like share this really quickly and because like we talk about
33:14black men and you know our health um the day i decided that i was going to give up what
33:21i love
33:21to get what i deserved was a day that really changed my life and what i loved was i loved
33:29the community of
33:30other black men that sometimes they didn't seek out while good they didn't seek out certain mental health
33:36services they didn't want to go to the doctor we got on the court and we didn't talk about what
33:40we were
33:41feeling we only talked about sex or playing some sports but none of us talked about it and i loved
33:46being in those spaces i loved it because i felt community but i realized those spaces weren't giving
33:51me what i deserved and and i had to walk away from what i love to get what i deserved
33:57and i share that
33:58with you all because there's probably something in your life as you're sharing your story that you're
34:02realizing you love it but it's not giving you what you deserve and i feel like if you can find
34:06that
34:06courage to walk away to get what you deserve and then share the story of you walking away and how
34:12you've done the work and what you've been through on your social media platforms when you're at work
34:17that's where the change is really going to start you're hearing me a lot to say it starts with you
34:21because i truly believe it starts with you doing the work with yourself if we're going to really want
34:25see the impact be global okay etienne last question for you you run a grassroots organization you're
34:35closest to the pain but in many cases further from furthest from the the funding oh man say it again
34:42you're close got some donors for the funding i mean i know so that's not a question it's a statement
34:51but
34:53you have folks in this room that may be affiliated with foundations and corporate sponsors
34:58how do you deal with this question about trust right because when people are thinking about
35:02allocating their funding to a philanthropic organization they look to the large organizations
35:08that have been around for 300 years 100 years 30 years a new organization on the block
35:14you don't have the capital you don't have the the trust how do you build that how do you shift
35:20the
35:21focus for those who are thinking of investing you know i encourage uh the founders the the executive
35:27directors the people who work on behalf of these corporations and who are donors to actually experience
35:33the programs that we offer those are the most successful donors for us is the people that actually
35:40participate and actually see what we are doing and and what's really frustrating though i will say is that
35:47sometimes you know you might get funding that is restricted if you look at the statistics in regards
35:53to black uh led organizations 31 percent actually get unrestricted funds how many percent how many percent
36:04could you would you think that the white organizations are getting in unrestricted funds 91
36:11percent there's a discrepancy when it comes to the organizations that are actually doing the work
36:19black-led organizations that are doing the work that aren't getting the support that we need so
36:25anybody that wants to learn more about what we're doing in the community i encourage y'all to show up
36:30and come to any one of our programs and see the impact that we are making in people's lives and
36:36i just want
36:36to end this with this when we started walk good i did not when i thought about access i completely
36:45forgot
36:45what access meant because just last week we had a young man chris carson asl man is deaf of hearing
36:53came to our running club and he said this is the first time ever that i did not feel excluded
36:59from a
37:00running club i might not i wasn't able to hear what people were saying but i saw and i felt
37:06the love i forgot what it felt like to be remembered for my name to be remembered and
37:13so when i think of the work that we are doing and providing access for holistic healing through
37:19wellness through running through movement through mental health resources that is the impact that
37:24i'm talking about and i encourage y'all to see the work thank you thank you thank you
37:28we are out of time so before they start playing the music we're going to give you 30 seconds to
37:35answer
37:36this question you can't say all three that is not the answer you know this question if you had a
37:44hundred million dollars and you had a hundred million dollar fund to invest in black men's wellness
37:54right now would you put it in economic development mental health infrastructure
38:02or reforming the health care system and don't say all 30 seconds mental health economic development
38:12mental health reforming the health care system it's all encompassing of everything that they just said
38:17right all three all three all three thank you thank you thank you to an extraordinary group of
38:22philanthropists thank you for the work that you do thank you to gillian sciences for supporting this
38:27initiative thank you
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