To promote education about men’s health issues worldwide, organizations observe Men’s Health Month throughout June. Studies show health disparities in Black men are associated with social and economic factors, like high poverty, low education levels, lack of health insurance, and widespread unemployment. To address this, education, early detection, and increased awareness are strategies that can help address both health problems and the social determinants of health that contribute to them.
In the second of a two-part series exploring mental and physical health in Black men, Capital B Gary interviewed Esther Lewis, CEO and founder of Holistic Evolution, a health-equity-focused community organization in Gary. Holistic Evolution provides wraparound services such as male mentorship, educational programming, and community health training to address health disparities in young men of color.
Drawing on 20 years’ worth of experience in youth development, Lewis started Holistic Evolution in 2019 to create a well-rounded health space for young Black boys and young men, like her son, to learn about good health behaviors and promote health equity.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Capital B Gary: What are some impacts you’ve seen come out of Holistic Evolution?
Esther Lewis: One of the largest impacts that we’ve made is absolutely changing the narrative around males of color, ages 16 to 24. We put a lot of effort into promoting positive imagery. It was really this change in the perception about health and encouraging them to speak out and having support in making the best health-related decision.
We train the community on prevention. Things that exist in our communities that make people more apt to be an alcoholic or have a drug addiction. We’ve done a lot of education around that.
We trained barbers as community health workers and then trained them in prevention strategies. Then, we paid them to lead barbershop talks on suicide prevention, mental health promotion, risky sexual behavior, substance misuse prevention, and youth violence prevention. So, they led barbershop talks about those topics.
We also completed a community needs assessment specific to young men of color, ages 16 to 24, in Lake, Porter, and La Porte counties. This has never been done before, and it allows us to examine how certain factors specifically affect young men of color in these communities.
Why is it called “Holistic Evolution”?
I believe that there is a holistic evolution that happened for black men and boys. And I think that evolution happens through mentoring. I believe there are a number of grown-up men who have learned lessons they need to teach younger men so that they don’t have to go through the same issues.
How is your mission rooted in health equity?
Health equity is a part of our mission and our vision. Many people look at health as a part of medical decisions that you make at a hospital or doctor’s. But there is a full body of work called the Healthy People 2030 survey. And they focus on the social determinants of health. So, what exists in our communities that makes it difficult for us to have positive health outcomes?
So, while holistic evolution depends on medical professionals holding the medical side of health equity, we focus our efforts on those social determinants of health. If a person has to worry about a hole in their roof or housing, you’re not going to think about going to the doctor; you’re thinking about patching the hole.
We try to create a basis for young men of color that offers the support of education, housing, and training, these holistic realms of support, but then we also bring them together in the same space with medical support.
You also host annual health fairs. What health resources do you offer through them?
Our events are not only about fun; the end goal is to connect those young men to help resources. They are being screened, they are taking STD tests, they are doing regular checkups, and getting educated on what age to start checking for prostate cancer.
We also had general health screenings on the mobile unit, filled out paperwork, and connected them with those health resources so that they could access those resources in their own communities.
We organized a group exercise class and educated the young men on the importance of moving their bodies instead of playing video games.
We also had the Indiana Department of Health and their mobile unit to vaccinate, for free, those individuals that were present.
What were some of your favorite moments that you’ve had?
Yeah, so probably the best feeling that I had was when I went into the schools and saw young men like, “Hey, Miss Esther, how are you doing?” And they show me their Holistic Evolution T-shirt that they got from our last event.
I think to be a part of a community that promotes good health outcomes, and young men of color being associated with something positive, as opposed to something negative, is always great. For me, that’s a truly impactful experience. That makes all of my sacrifices worth it.