submitted by Emily Gruenewald
Lisa Peyton-Caire is the Founding CEO and President of The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness (FFBWW), a Wisconsin based organization committed to eliminating health disparities and other barriers impacting Black women, their families and communities.
When Lisa’s mother passed away from heart disease in 2006 at the age of 64, she reflected on the number of black women in her life who had died in middle age. She realized her mother’s death wasn’t an anomaly and began researching the broader influences on Black women’s health. Since forming FWBBW in 2012, the Foundation now serves over 5,000 women and girls each year through direct health education, wellness programming, leadership development and advocacy while mobilizing women and community partners to be change agents in advancing health equity.
Wisconsin is number one in the nation for: racial inequities, economic inequities, health disparities, birth disparities, educational disparities, Black child poverty and over-incarceration. These disparities and inequities create a constant stress on daily life that negatively impacts overall health and wellness for Black women and their families. Lisa encourages us to read the “Saving Our Babies Report” (http://ffbww.org/savingourbabies/) to understand the significant health crisis Black women and children face in Dane County, and the initiatives to advance maternal, child and family wellbeing.
When asked what we can do to help transform the systems impacting Black women’s health to take Wisconsin from being the worst place to raise a Black child to one of the best, Lisa said, “Don’t assume you have the answers.” She encourages us to, “Go directly to those who are impacted and ask, ‘What do you need to build the infrastructure to make these changes?’” Call FFBWW to start a conversation to learn more deeply about the issues. Become an advocate in your network and support initiatives that will transform Wisconsin into a leader in health equality.
If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/PazT9BZNoKc.
Greg Frank, a co-owner of the Food Fight Restaurant Group in Madison and current Treasurer of our club, gave an overview of the history of restaurants, their current status and future challenges facing the industry during these uncertain Covid-times. Most recognize that the restaurant business can be quite difficult, and operations must survive on very low margins, typically less than 5%. Nevertheless, restaurants are an integral part of virtually every community, and have been so since the late 18th century when the first restaurant opened in France. The first American restaurant established, Delmonico’s in New York City, was established in 1830, and restaurants throughout the world have evolved in a variety of formats over the years.
Rotarians were challenged July 15 by Annette Miller to be part of the equity solution.
The past year has been a whirlwind of challenge and of change, starting with my unexpected appointment as club President and ending with our Rotary Club poised to transition back to in-person meetings as the pandemic continues. It has been my honor to be club President through this time. I’ve had the opportunity to experience firsthand our Rotary Club as a place where members CONNECT, SERVE and GROW.
Well! This was quite a meeting.
This week, UW-Madison School of Journalism Professor Michael Wagner spoke to the Downtown Rotarians on Pandemic Voting: Information, Geography and Polarization in the 2020 Elections. The J-School has done a lot of research on the impacts of media and voting and has tracked the polarization of Wisconsin voters since 1996. Since that time, we’ve seen a decline in local newspapers and local news reporting, a rise in talk radio and social media, as well as a stark rise in the amount of political advertising in our state. The School of Journalism has done a lot of research on the impact of changing information channels and has found that the broader your media diet, the more likely you are to vote outside of party lines. As an example, those who viewed a wide range of information sources were 50% more likely to split-ticket vote in an election (i.e., choose candidates from more than one party on the same ballot). Those who consumed a narrower range of media had nearly no likelihood of splitting a ticket.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 