Thanks to the support of the West Side Ministers Coalition, the United Way Immunization Initiative will deepen its reach in the Austin community. The Coalition, which consists of local Austin ministers, has agreed to promote the United Way Immunization Initiative to their congregations to ensure that parents are educated on the importance of timely immunizations for their preschool age children. According to Coalition member, Rev. Lewis Flowers the West Side Ministers Coalition has the capacity to reach over 17,000 Austin residents.

“In the African American community, the church is the voice of the people,” said Rev. Flowers. “This is a very important endeavor and we are happy to advocate for parents, children and grandparents so that our children won’t be affected by preventable diseases.”

The Coalition meets every month to discuss health, education, workforce development and public safety on the West Side. At its April meeting, several Austin ministers, as well as health and human service care agency, city, county and state government representatives gathered at Columbus Park to discuss the community benefits of the United Way Immunization Initiative for Austin children.

The Initiative began after a city-wide immunization assessment conducted by the Chicago Department of Public Health, showed that Austin’s on-time immunization rate for pre-school age children—infancy to four years old—was dangerously low. In fact, only 20% of Austin kids ages three and older had received the MMR vaccine, which is strongly recommended for every child by the time they reach one year old. As a result, hundreds of children were at risk of acquiring preventable diseases that could cause devastating long-term consequences, even death.

To address the alarming issue, United Way and its community partners, including Chicago Department of Public Health, Austin Child Care Providers Association, Austin Child Care, Providers Network, Illinois Action for Children, Illinois Maternal & Child Health Coalition, Chicago Area Immunization Campaign, Latina Child Care Providers in Action, Proveedores en Accion para Nuestros Ninos (PANN), and YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago Providers Services, focused on providing non-licensed, home-based daycare providers because licensed daycare facilities require all kids to be immunized prior to enrollment. Home-based daycare providers were given the tools to monitor immunizations for the children in their care and educate parents about the importance of vaccinations.

With the help of the West Side ministers, United Way and its partners will be able to extend the Initiative’s reach to many more Austin families and their young children to advocate for timely childhood inoculations. Due to the success in Austin, United Way is replicating the Immunization Initiative in Humboldt Park, where low immunization for pre-school age children is also prevalent. This initiative is set to begin this year.

One of the challenges facing America today is the successful transition of African American young males into adulthood. Research indicates that too often unemployment, low-paying jobs, lack of education, incarceration and single parenthood are what awaits for a large number of African American young men.

Chicago is not exempt from this crisis. The metropolitan area’s statistics are staggering; of all juvenile parolees, 87% are African American males. The poverty rate for African American males in Chicago is 28% higher than in any other major urban area in the country. In addition, the unemployment rate in Chicago is 7%, but among African American males, that number spikes to 33%.

In late 2004, United Way took a unique approach to addressing this issue affecting so many young lives. It laid the groundwork for the African American Initiative, a program specifically designed to help young African American males transition successfully to adulthood. Now, the critical first phase of the United Way African American Initiative–building a collaborative community partnership–is about to come to fruition. This phase engaged various communities in assessing, identifying and developing a workable project that included youth participation, assessment of community assets and needs, and priorities planning.

United Way understood this was not an issue to tackle with broad strokes, so efforts were concentrated where program collaborators determined would have the most impact in five distinct communities throughout the city.

In Bronzeville/Grand Boulevard 94% of the population is African American. 53% of families live below the poverty line and only 52% of 8th graders meet state reading standards. By the time they reach the 11th grade, that number plummets to just below 6%.

Other neighborhoods are facing similar challenges. In Englewood, only 20% of residents graduate high school, and one in four of the people who live there are unemployed. Just to the west of Englewood in North Lawndale the population is 94% African American. 51% of families live below the poverty line, and only 2.3% of 11th graders meet state standards in math. In Rogers Park, only 29% of the population is African American, yet public schools in the area have an African American student population of 59%, of which only about half graduates from high school. In Roseland, where 89% of the population is African American, 22% of 7th and 8th graders say they have been victims of abuse in dating relationships. 37% say they have perpetuated that violence.

These communities are now poised for the implementation phase of the African American Initiative. Each is now linked with a program to strengthen and improve conditions in their geographic area. The project implementation will incorporate the input gathered from the community and youth collaborators. The programs include: Teamwork Englewood in Englewood, Centers for New Horizons in Bronzeville/Grand Boulevard, Metropolitan Family Services in Roseland, YMEN and Lawndale Christian Health Center in North Lawndale and Alternatives in Rogers Park.

The United Way African American Initiative received amazing support from individuals and corporations who did their part to stop the downward spiral of so many young people. In 2005, Harris Bankcorp challenged the region to give at the Leadership level and committed to match 2-to-1 every gift of $1,000 or more to the African American Initiative. In 2006, ComEd stepped up to sponsor the United Way African American Initiative Challenge Grant offering the same incentive and ensuring that the initiative did not lose momentum.

To date, United Way has raised almost $675,000 for this effort. Thank you to everyone who has already participated in the Initiative and to those interested in donating, please click here or call United Way at (312) 906-2257.