The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness (FFBWW) has made a name for itself in Madison by making significant impacts in championing and directly addressing Black women’s health in Wisconsin where disparities are rampant.
FFBWW is now looking for community support as they grow and expand into an additional office space, and the journey it has taken to reach this point is a story worth telling again, and again.
Rooted in health justice for Black women
The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness’s conceptual roots reaches back years before Lisa Peyton-Caire, founder, CEO, and president, returned to Madison in 2011. While the inspiration for Peyton-Caire’s initial Black Women’s Wellness Day in 2009 came from her mother, Roberta Peyton, passing in 2006, the sentiments behind the goal of Black women’s wellness come from the impression left by spaces they shared.
“Growing up in my mother’s hair salon was the epitome of a safe space for Black women. A place where we could literally come let our hair down and be our full selves enveloped in this unconditional love and acceptance, where we were seen, where we were heard. It was our comfortable space where we could talk as we talk, laugh as we laugh, listen to the music we like, eat the food we want to eat, and love each other in a spirit of sisterhood,” Peyton-Caire told Madison365, sharing what led from the third annual Black Women’s Wellness Day in Madison to establishing FFBWW in 2012.
“When we envisioned the creation of the Black Women’s Wellness Center and opening a space here, it was crucially important that we create a space that is very rare and unheard of in this community.”
What started from Peyton-Caire and a founding board has become a force in a community that desperately needs resources for Black women. With Black maternal health bearing down on the community as an avoidable yet persistent crisis, there should be no question as to why the work is needed. FFBWW Chief Health Initiative Officer Gabe Doyle spoke to just how impactful it is when we consider what could be done to avoid wellness crises for Black women and families.
“By putting Black women in positions to connect with more Black women to holistically wrap services around to meet their unique needs, that is a little bit different than what you’re seeing at other organizations big and small,” said Doyle. “We have enough components around wellness to really provide that wraparound service, remove red tape, remove barriers, and get Black women connected to day-to-day quality of life, impactful resources.”
What Doyle points out and what is most obvious from spending time at the foundation is how special it is to have a space for Black women that is controlled by Black women. Wellness at the foundation is not just about the service, but about the experience, and about the understanding. Peyton-Caire and the team have shaped the space to be what women need when they need it the most.
“Women may come to us in a crisis, and we want to be able to help them through that crisis,” Peyton-Caire explained. “Sometimes that means assisting them with emergency funds, referring them to other agencies, and sometimes it means our own staff walking those women through all the resources and agencies they need to be connected to. It also always includes us wrapping them with the community to navigate those resources and support them.”
What has been years of hard work has not been in vain, and the Foundation has the receipts to prove it.
Proven results in lives changed & lives saved
The jumpstart of FFBWW’s growth came in the years leading up to COVID-19. In a time before the world was about to change drastically, the Foundation was making its presence felt and growing beyond Peyton-Caire as the sole team member. Though Chief Operating Officer Janine Stephens Hale had been working with the foundation prior, she became the first full-time employee at the foundation in early 2020.
“We were able to launch a campaign for our 6601 location, which was our main headquarters in February of 2020,” Hale said, referring to their physical location at 6601 Grand Teton Plaza. “We then had to turn around and shut down in March of 2020 due to the pandemic. Our team continued to grow which was the opposite of most organizations during the pandemic. We were able to have some of our teamwork hybrid in our headquarters space, and then have another half of our teamwork in co-working space that was previously donated to us.”
That donated space by Office Evolution allowed FFBWW to continue its work that was desperately needed during the pandemic. The demand for resources and support was proven even more necessary, and with the Foundation offering something special, the staff grew in response. The pandemic couldn’t stop Black women from going where they knew they would be welcomed with open arms.
“During our shutdown, we quickly revamped ourselves and began to deliver our programs and services in a virtual space. Though our doors were shut for a year and a half, we continued to serve women and we grew the number of women we were serving over 2020-21, in response to the deep need that COVID brought to our doorstep for Black women who needed more than what we were offering,” said Peyton-Caire, who along with the team continued to do Black Women’s Wellness Days and other programming.
“They needed more support to navigate that crisis and what it meant to their households and families, and for their health. We had to grow our team and our infrastructure to meet those increasing community needs.”
As the team continued to grow past the initial years of the pandemic, it became apparent that the damage done in already unacceptable conditions was in need of immediate attention. Gabe Doyle joined in 2022 as part of that response to what he sees as an innovative and crucial approach to supporting Black women.
“Needs don’t happen in isolation or only upfront in life, they happen across the lifespan,” Doyle said. “We also have a team of community health workers that go out and meet the unique needs of Black women and their families across the social determinants of health. Specifically around our top four priorities of economic stability, mental health, housing, and then we also manage a doula collective that helps support Saving Our Babies in some of our maternal and child health partnerships. What that means is that every single day, Black women and their families are reaching out to the foundation for creative solutions.”
With numbers and voices to back up the effectiveness of initiatives such as ConnectRX, FFBWW is changing health outcomes and providing services that save Black women.
Growth where it’s needed most
Hale recalled finding the office space she knew the Foundation needed and calling Peyton-Caire excited that the perfect spot happened to be near by. The foundation’s new building is at 6525 Grand Teton Plaza, Suite B. It’s in the same complex as their current office, but across the parking lot …and it is perfectly located for the team to still be in close quarters.
“We’re literally right behind our headquarters space so we can utilize both spaces as needed,” said Hale. “It was time. Our team really did need to be in a space where we felt we could have easy access to one another. To be able to literally knock on the door versus having to Slack message or have a phone or video call.”
As the need for more services increased and more women kept coming to FFBWW for care and assistance, the recipe for success became clear. When there are well Black women at the forefront guiding the way, the services provided produce well Black women in turn.
“There’s a spillover effect from positive performance,” Doyle assured. “There’s career development, there’s relationship building, and there’s learning opportunities we gain from being around each other. That’s why this is really feeling like a home, versus us going out and doing incredible individual work, it’s really cohesive at the end of the day and strategically planned. Now we get to hear and share and exchange wisdom, and we also get to create a wellness place.”
This new space will be a catalyst for even more growth for an organization that has already expanded its programming to reach into areas of economic literacy, mental wellbeing, and education and facilitation increasing opportunities.
“Our commitment to serving Black women has required us to continue to broaden our programs and our services, and to grow our talented team of people to carry out that work on a day-to-day basis,” said Peyton-Caire. “This past decade has been a progressive journey of delivering on our commitment to power a generation of well, Black women. We’ve been fortunate enough through a global pandemic, and because of community support, to continue to grow.”
As each member of the team expressed, what the foundation is able to do with community support truly changes the futures of Black women and families in Madison.
Putting Black Women’s Wellness in their hands
FFBWW has by all measures given a return on the investment that the community has made in them so far. The Foundation’s work spans across the city, county, and state, making the space a necessary increase as capacity follows. That is an investment Doyle stressed is worth making.
“An investment in Black women is an investment in Madison and Dane County,” he said. “An investment in the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness creates a ripple effect and the network that comes along with that is truly an investment in this community and our collective community.”
This is also not the first time the Foundation has reached out to the community to support expansion as their goal to maintain a physical location was also aided by a gift from the Mary Burke Fund for Girls and Women. The $150,000 the Foundation is now seeking will help maintain its presence in the new location, as well as provide what is necessary to furnish and supply the space to best suit the women they serve.
“We’re grateful to have an amazing team that gels well together no matter what area you’re in or level of employment,” Hale was elated to report. “Our team is an amazing team. We’re grateful for this opportunity, but we definitely could use the support from the community to help keep us here.”
To give even more incentive for community support, Mary Burke has offered to match $50,000 towards the goal of $150,000 in pursuit of continuing to enable well Black women. What community support manifested then has come to fruition and potential for the current expansion is endless as the team warms up to the new location.
“The space is just a beautiful physical representation of the love and respect that we deliver in this work and the community of safety, support, and aspiration that we’ve built for Black women,” said Peyton-Caire in closing. “People who are not Black women who come into our space don’t want to leave…We value wellness and health not only for the community we serve, but for the people who work and power the foundation. It feels so wonderful to be able to say to our employees, ‘This beautiful space is for us as much as it is for our community.’“
While the call from the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness may come in the form of donations and support, the answer will come in whether the community is ready to put the wellness of Black women in their own hands.
To learn more about FFBWW, visit their website here. Also, find information and register for this year’s Black Women’s Wellness Day here.
