ICSSBM Announces the 6th Annual Indiana Black Barbershop Health Initiative

Indianapolis – The Indiana Commission on the Social Status of Black Males (ICSSBM) will be coordinating the Annual Indiana Black Barbershop Health Initiative for sixth time. The initiative will take place on multiple Saturdays in April, 2016. This event will be held in conjunction with local commissions and community partners will be providing health screenings and education at local barbershops from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in fifteen cities. Each participating barbershop will offer all customers free health screenings and informational handouts during the statewide initiative in April. The ICSSBM, along with hundreds of volunteers, seeks to enlighten African American men to better understand cardiovascular diseases through screening and education.

Participating cities include:  Bloomington, East Chicago, Elkhart, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, Jeffersonville, Kokomo, Merrillville, Michigan City, New Albany, South Bend, and Terre Haute.

The Kick-Off event will be held on March 31, at Going Forward Barbershop – 1015 East Riverside Drive, Evansville, Indiana – and will include free health screenings and haircuts by local volunteer barbers.

Recent figures from the Indiana Department of Health show African American men have the highest mortality rate of any group in Indiana. African American men also suffer from prostate cancer at a higher level in Indiana than any other racial or ethnic group.

This is the sixth year for the annual initiative, and from the first year with six cities the initiative has more than doubled to 15 cities. 2016 is a hallmark year as the initiative has expanded from one Saturday in April to utilizing four Saturdays in April.

This year’s statewide initiative partners include Telamon Corporation, Novo Nordisk and the Indiana Minority Health Coalition. The initiative also receives support from Southwest Indiana Area Health Education Center and community partners and thrives on the public engagement in each city. For more information, including a list of participating barbershops, visit www.in.gov/icssbm.