Detroit family tackles asthma with DIY air filters — and measures the resultsLiving in an industrial city like Detroit means residents like Dominique and Aidan Johnson don't always have clean air to breathe. The mother and son duo both suffer from asthma, which they believe is perpetuated by air pollution and COVID-19. This summer, the Johnsons participated in a workshop on DIY air filters and air monitoring led by the nonprofit organization Ecology Center, where Aidan and other kids opted into a study to track the efficacy of air filters. The eighth grader left with a new backpack and a portable air quality sensor used to monitor his breathing — at home, school and everywhere else — in real-time. Every day for two weeks, the Johnsons were required to complete an online survey about Aidan's work with the air quality monitor. The results were very telling.
Read the full story from Outlier Media's current series, "Exhausted in Detroit," in collaboration with Planet Detroit →
As Black churches grapple with mental health, clergy are both subject and solution
In 2020, suicide was the leading cause of death for Black teens and young adults, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. Many Black communities turn to their churches for counseling and information beyond religion and spirituality, which means Black clergy need training to speak about grief and sensitive issues like suicide. Now, thanks to Soul Shop for Black Churches, Black clergy can receive training in mental health and suicide prevention through Soul Shop for Black Churches from the one-day workshop founded by a onetime Ohio pastor who lost three young people in his church to suicide.
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What’s behind the rise in lung cancer among BIPOC communities?Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, with a disproportionate effect on Black individuals because they are less likely to be diagnosed early, to receive surgical treatment and to survive than white individuals. Some of the more recent data attributes this to environmental pollution and the tobacco industry's history of targeting specific communities. As Black Voice News points out, attitudes toward smoking shifted in 1998 after states reached a national settlement [MSA] with the four largest tobacco companies in the U.S. The government outlined in the settlement that tobacco companies were negligent in targeting particular groups and heavily promoted menthol products. Black Voice News also highlight that tobacco companies at the time also concentrated much of their advertising in African-American publications such as Ebony and Essence.
Meet the Game Changers
Highlighting the innovators transforming health outcomes in our communities
Yussuf Shafie, MSW, is the CEO of Alliance Wellness Center, a new women-only substance abuse facility in Bloomington, Minnesota. The facility caters to East African women who can receive individual and group therapy, explore the root of their dependency on drugs and strategize on how they can quit