This week, the commissioners approved a $155,000 grant to the African American Male Wellness Agency (AAMWA) to provide programs to address the historically poorer health outcomes of African-American men in Franklin County. The African American Male Wellness Agency works to increase the health outcomes and life expectancy of Black men in Central Ohio with initiatives in Fatherhood, Financial Health, Health and Wellness, Mental Health, Research, and Mentorship, and provides health screenings, a wellness walk, mental wellness events, an HIV awareness day, and more.
The AAMWA also sponsors an annual African American Male Wellness Walk to raise money for its work and bring attention to the fact that African American men die from preventable diseases at 10 times the rate of other men. The walk began in Franklin County in 2004, and includes a service project, job fair, and musical concert, and has spread to 12 other cities around the country since then. Several Franklin County agencies participated in the walk this year, bringing information to the participants and directing interested parties to resources that are available from the county or in our community. More than 30,000 people participated in the event this year which also raised more than $600,000 for the AAMWA.
Funds for this grant are being made available from Franklin County’s portion of the American Rescue Plan. You can read the full text of the resolution
here and learn more about how the commissioners are using American Rescue Plan funding to help our community recover at
Recovery.FranklinCountyOhio.gov.