Best Cause Campaign Award

Check out the Nominations for our BCG Best Cause Campaign Award!

Red Pump Project
I would like to nominate the fabulous ladies of the Red Pump Project for the Best Cause Campaign Award! As a Chi-town resident, I am very familiar with what these women are doing to encourage other women to take a stand against HIV/AIDS. As a black woman, we all know that we are the highest target for HIV/AIDS infection so we need tp pay attention. My sister and I went to the Red Pump fashion show last year and to see it n person, it made me really want to get involved in HIV/AIDS research and awareness and most importantly get tested. Since the fashion show, I have saw the Red Pimp project on TV and even in ad campaigns around the city. What they are doing for Chicago and all major cities across the US should be recognized, more people need to get involved with Red Pump.

The Poverty Tour
I had the unique opportunity of covering The Poverty Tour as a journalist here in Detroit for my school Wayne State. What I witnessed was reminiscent of what one may have seen watching MLK or Malcom X in their hay-day. To see Smiley and Dr.West on the streets of Detroit speaking with people, who many had nothing but the clothes on their back, feel a sense a hope. I learned so much during that one hour about poverty and all of the hardships that are being met with people across this country on a daily basis and it changed me. I believe this was the strongest and most prolific cause campaign of 2011. Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley deserve to be recognized for their work this year, they truly gave hope, inspiration and a sense of promise to everyone they met a long the tour!

Global Wellness Project
The Global Wellness Project (GWP), a non-profit media company with a mandate to develop health education tools across multi-media platforms, recently announced plans to produce a four-part series of documentaries focusing on the health of Black men. The series, State of Emergency: Tackling Black Men’s Health, is the brainchild of GWP Founder Angela de Joseph, who is producing the film in response to the alarming statistics pertaining to the health issues plaguing African American men nationwide. Statistics show the average Black man is dying at a higher rate and has a life expectancy of 7.1 years less than his white, Asian and Latino counterparts. According to the CDC, findings on African American men: 39% have hypertension; 37% are obese; 30% are more likely to die from heart disease; 14.7% have diabetes; there is a 59% higher incidence of prostate cancer; and are 5 times more likely to die of HIV/AIDS. For the series, de Joseph interviewed a number of Black men who survived heart attacks, diabetes, HIV and prostate cancer, the four major health issues plaguing Black men. De Joseph is near completion on the first installment, which will concentrate on heart disease. She also spoke to men concerning why they are reluctant to get regular checkups. For its efforts the GWP recently received The Impact Seed Award from The Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. The Global Wellness Project consists of conscious professionals who are committed to educating the community on the special health needs of Black men while working to eradicate the obstacles, and behavior patterns that prevent health equity in the minority population.

Get Schooled
I first learned about Get Schooled thru your tweets and I knew I had to get my girls involved. As a single mother of two teenage girls 14 and 16, it’s so important to me that they stay in school. I was a teen parent myself and never finished high school. I am now in the process of getting my GED, going to school and hopefully one day I will start my own nonprofit for young teenage mothers. When I learned that they could get a celebrity to call them and wake them up for school, I was so happy I signed both of them up. In October I will never forget the day, they both got a call from Trey Songs and they were so pumped up all day. I thought then what a great campaign to get them up and to school. I would like to nominate Get Schooled for helping me get my girls to school so they don’t follow in my footsteps.

Black and Missing
When we hear the term “missing persons”, we immediately conjure up images of Caylee Anthony, Chandra Levy, Laci Peterson, Dail Dinwiddie, and Natalee Holloway. But what about persons of color, with similar fates, such as Jahessye Shockley (Caylee Anthony), Constance Anderson (Laci Peterson), Stepha Henry (Natalee Holloway), and Shelton Sanders (Dail Dinwiddie) who did not get the same coverage? According to a report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, close to 40 percent of all missing persons in America are persons of color – an overwhelming number are black men.Born out of necessity, Black and Missing Foundation, Inc. (BAM FI) is the sole non-profit org that brings awareness to missing persons of color-men, women and children, nationally. BAM FI also assists in finding missing person of color and provide educational training on personal safety. Since its inception, close to 60 missing persons have been found or closure has been brought to the case. BAM FI is truly deserving of this award.