 The Bless Your Heart: Health-Wise Woman Cardiovascular Disease among African American Women Project is a healthy, lifestyle-change program focused on promoting better nutrition, increased physical activity and emotional health for African American women and their families at risk for cardiovascular disease. This program raises awareness of disease risks associated with unhealthy food choices and sedentary lifestyles and offers alternative strategies for maintaining an improved quality of life. It is designed to address the behavioral and social aspects of healthy living for Black women that identifies traditional roles and health behaviors of Black women. This Initiative will offer effective risk reduction strategies and current evidence-based information and tools to support lifestyle change. The goal of the project is to build capacity in national and community based organizations, while encouraging healthy lifestyle choices for Black women in this country. Our partners are the AME Connectional Health Commission, Center for Black Women's Wellness, Mocha Moms Inc. and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. The program consists of cardiovascular screenings, health education program modules, healthy lifestyle maintenance support sessions focused on nutrition, physical activity and emotional wellness networks for African American women at risk for CVD. Each session will end with the Imperative's signature Walking for Wellness Program encouraging women to begin moving with a walking program and learning how to develop walking clubs in their own communities. The Bless Your Heart program was developed to implement and evaluate a cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and health education program designed to increase knowledge, change behaviors and promote physical activity and healthy eating for 200-500 African American women 35 and older in the following cities; Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
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Black Women's Health Initiative
News for You 
- Mom's Belly Fat Predicts Kid's Heart Disease Risk
A reliable indicator of whether a child will develop metabolic syndrome, which increases their future risk of heart disease and diabetes, is the mother's waist size, researchers from Argentina report.
- Multiple Stressors Compound Heart Disease Risk
The more psychosocial stressors a person faces in daily life, the greater their heart disease risk is, and the relationship is particularly strong for women, a new study shows.
Tools & Resources
- Position Statement: Cardiovascular Disease
- Check Your Cardiovascular Profile
Heart attack? Stroke? Heart disease? Learn how to lower your risk
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National Office: 1420 K Street, N.W. | Suite 1000 | Washington, D.C. 20005 | (202) 548-4000 | info@BlackWomensHealth.ORG