The Center for Black Health & Equity (The Center) has spent significant time this quarter engaging organizations and advocates to advance their own health equity goals, while also receiving recognition for our work in communities. We are working to save Black lives everywhere, and we are grateful to the partners and coalitions who allow us to mobilize alongside them to make this possible.
Here are some of our highlights from the second quarter of 2026:
HBCU Health Summit
The American College Health Association held a health summit at Howard University to discuss three areas of concern pertaining to college students on HBCU campuses nationwide. This two-day event held late in March united The Center with several other organizations to collaborate on ways to address mental health, food insecurity, vaping and cannabis use. Greg Bolden, our Community Initiatives Program Manager, introduced the No Menthol Sunday campaign and capacity-building opportunities to assist in organizing an active response to current issues around tobacco use.
Networking and sharing ideas with others at this level are important ways to tackle problems within public health.
Black Maternal Health Week
The first week of April was Black Maternal Health Week, a time to build awareness and uplift advocacy work by and for Black mothers and birthing people. For this observance, Center staff represented the organization at two events to provide education and forge new partnerships in different communities.
Shanice Roache and Kayla Holland participated in North Carolina’s Maternal and Child Health policy team, leading to a special invitation to a proclamation signing held in North Carolina at the Governor’s Mansion to bring awareness to Black Maternal Health Week.
Princeton University’s NAACP College Chapter also held a NAACP Disparities in Maternal Health event and invited Kayla Holland, The Center’s Food and Nutrition Program Manager, as a panel speaker. As a trusted voice, Holland provided perspective to the gap between statistics and the lived experiences of Black mothers, highlighting the specific systemic biases that contribute to the maternal mortality crisis. By opening up this dialogue with Princeton’s academic community, we were able to foster a dialogue on how to dismantle racial disparities during pregnancy, childbirth, and the fourth trimester.
On Aging 2026 Conference
In April, Mary Williams-Stover received the Equity & Justice Award during a conference hosted by the American Society on Aging. Williams-Stover has served as The Center’s Equity-Centered Policies Program Manager for years, but her advocacy work extends further as a board member for the North Carolina Coalition On Aging. It was this and her work to increase senior adult participation in the No Menthol Sunday campaign that led to winning this award.
Advancing equity and justice in aging is commendable work and we are grateful to have Williams-Stover on our team.
A Supreme Court Victory in the Fight Against Tobacco
The Oregon Flavors Hook Kids Coalition worked with several partners, including The Center, to successfully prohibit retailers in Washington County from selling any flavored tobacco or flavored synthetic nicotine product. The ordinance also prohibits price promotions, coupons and discounts for all tobacco and synthetic nicotine products.
This ruling came down from the Oregon State Supreme Court in May after years of advocacy. Washington County is part of the Portland metropolitan area and is the second-most populous county in Oregon. About 12 percent of the population in the county is African American, and upon learning that tobacco use is highly marketed to this group in Washington County, The Center was quick to get involved in supporting this equitable ordinance.
Kenny Ray, Director of Programs, and Greg Bolden, Community Initiatives Program Manager, started providing technical assistance to this coalition in 2021. The Center helped the coalition strategize on how to advocate for this change by providing education on the science of menthol and flavor bans, and helping to build capacity to grow the movement,
We are incredibly proud of the part we played in mobilizing this community and supporting this equity-centered policy. This journey with Oregon underscores our mission to facilitate programs and services to benefit communities and people of African descent, and we are invigorated by this achievement to keep the momentum going for other communities.
