Elder Care Initiative strives to provide education and awareness about preparing for your senior years. The African American community is least prepared when it comes to retirement, estate planning and understanding the legal and financial preparation needed to care for parents, grandparents and ultimately, for our own long term care. It is a comprehensive program that also focuses on elder abuse awareness, financial peace, supporting the caregiver and volunteering at senior care facilities.

 

Stork’s Nest is a 40-plus-year-old partnership between Zeta Phi Beta and March of Dimes. Stork’s Nest is a community-based, prenatal, health promotion program for low-income pregnant women. The program is designed to promote prenatal care participation and healthy behaviors during pregnancy through two components-incentives and education. Stork’s Nest clients “earn” points toward incentives, such as maternity or baby care items, through a variety of positive, health-promoting activities; attending prenatal care appointments, participating in prenatal education classes, keeping appointments for well-baby visits,, etc. Thousands of women are serviced at Stork’s Nest all over the country every year.

 

Zeta Prematurity Awareness Program (ZPAP) occurs annually during the entire month of November in support of World Prematurity Day on November 17th and the March of Dimes. Since 2003, Zeta chapters and auxiliaries reach out to over 300 houses of worship annually across the country and distribute information on prematurity awareness, causes of prematurity and the importance of seeking prenatal care in an effort to decrease infant mortality and the number of low birth weight babies. In 2014, over 100,000 people were reached through the Sorority’s grassroots campaign.

 

Adopt-A-School allows members of Zeta Phi Beta to identify low performing schools and provide assistance in a number of ways to enhance the educational experience, increase test scores and grades. Members purchase supplies and/or equipment, provide volunteer hours, assist with parent engagement programs and work with administrators to identify needs that may be specific to that particular school.

 

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, June 15, kicks off our campaign to distribute information in our communities on identifying signs of elder abuse and where victims can go for assistance. According to Ageless Alliance, 1 out of 10 older adults are victims of abuse. Members throughout the country place informational table tents in restaurants, businesses, churches and libraries all over the country.

 

International Women of Color is one of five components of Z-HOPE. The programming benefits include support for those with AIDS and those caring for AIDS victims, literacy programs, building water wells, donating rice and much more. We have built more than 52 water wells throughout Ghana. We have recently launched a Well Maintenance program to ensure that our wells are consistently functioning and providing potable water to the villages. We also built a clinic at the Afua Kobi Apem Senior School for girls in Ghana. Enrollment at the school went from 1,200 to 2,000 after opening the clinic. Villagers can also visit the health center and often do. The clinic has dramatically improved the health of the girls and their families.

 

Triple Negative Breast Cancer -While triple negative breast cancer can be found in any ethnicity, breast cancers found in African American women are more likely to be triple negative. This form of breast cancer is more aggressive and often labeled more difficult to treat. It has also been found to occur disproportionately in young African American women. Zeta chapters have begun adding information about triple negative breast cancer to existing projects and programs on breast cancer to build awareness and support efforts of health care professionals and organizations recommending earlier breast health testing.