24 THE QUEENS COURIER • BLACK HISTORY MONTH • FEBRUARY 17, 2022 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
black history month
Nourish Spot owner off ers mentorship, support to local Black business owners
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
United Way New York City is
partnering with a Jamaica small
business owner to expand on
her mentorship during Black
History Month to Black-owned
businesses across Queens and
the city that has struggled during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
When UWNYC launched
its Together We Th rive: Black
Business Network in February
2021, Dawn Kelly, the owner
of the Nourish Spot, located at
107-05 Guy Brewer Blvd., was
among the fi rst to join the initiative
Black History Month: Structural racism is a driver of health disparities
BY THE AMERICAN HEART
ASSOCIATION
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th is February, during Black
History Month, the American
Heart Association is encouraging
Black women to Reclaim
Your Rhythm and take control
of their mental and physical
well-being. For years we’ve
been striving to ensure everyone
has an optimal, just opportunity
to be healthy. But this is not the
reality for many people of color
and others whose health suff ers
because of social factors beyond
their control.
In fact, in New York City, people
in some under-resourced ZIP
codes have shorter life expectancies
than their neighbors just a
few miles away. And around the
country, people in oft en-remote
rural areas face signifi cantly
higher death rates from heart
disease and stroke.
COVID-19 has illuminated
these unacceptable health disparities
and worsened the problems.
Th e pandemic and economic
hardships have disproportionately
harmed the health
of Black, Latino and Native
American people.
Structural racism is a driver
of health disparities, report
declares
Th e nation’s history of structural
racism must be acknowledged
as a driver of health problems
and shortened lives for
Black people and other racial and
ethnic groups says an American
Heart Association report that
seeks to spark action to fi x the
problem.
Th e idea that racism adversely
aff ects an individual’s health
is not new, said Dr. Keith
Churchwell, president of Yale
New Haven Hospital, who led
the writing group for the advisory.
For example, racism has been
shown to lead to stress, depression
and long-lasting, cumulative
damage to the body and
brain.
“Structural racism has been
and remains a fundamental
cause of persistent health disparities
in the United States,”
declares the presidential advisory.
It off ers a summary of the historical
context of structural discrimination,
connects it to current
health disparities and looks
for ways to dismantle or mitigate
its continuing eff ects.
Structural racism refers to “the
ways in which society is set up
in such a way that advantages
and opportunities are preferentially
given to those of one
race rather than to another,” said
co-author Dr. Mitchell Elkind,
immediate past president of the
American Heart Association for
2021-22, a neurologist at New
York-Presbyterian/Columbia
University Irving Medical Center
in New York City. “We have to
change the underlying structure
that allows that to happen.”
We know things like high
blood pressure, diabetes and
smoking lead to cardiovascular
disease, Elkind said. And higher
rates of those problems in some
groups lead to health disparities.
For example, Black people in the
United States are much more
likely to die from heart disease
or stroke than their white counterparts.
Structural racism is “an important,
fundamental driver” of
such diff erences, he said. Which
means doctors, scientists, policymakers
and others have a role in
addressing it.
“Th e consequences of racism
in the past persist in such a way
that certain racial and ethnic
groups still live in poor neighborhoods
that have less green
space, that have poor air quality,
have a more dangerous environment
that may preclude exercise
and healthy behaviors, may have
less nutritious food options, and
certainly suboptimal educational
experiences,” Elkind said. “Th ese
things have not gone away.”
The American Heart
Association is committed to
advancing health equity —
which can exist only when all
people can have the opportunity
to enjoy healthier lives. We’re
removing barriers to health
through work in communities,
scientifi c research, advocating
for healthy policies and more.
Please join us on this critical
journey.
For information about the
American Heart Association’s
commitment to health equity
please visit heart.org/health
equity.
to help mentor entrepreneurs
struggling through the
economic shutdown.
“I’m very grateful Thrive
selected me to help expand the
program,” Kelly said. “It allows
me to mentor more young people,
women and minority small
business owners to achieve their
entrepreneurial dreams during
such diffi cult times when so
many were forced to close down
during the pandemic.”
Th e Howard University alum
beat out more than a million
entrepreneurs when she was
recognized by the U.S. Small
Business Administration as its
Microbusiness Person of the Year
for 2019. Growing up in South
Jamaica, she always dreamed of
having her own business and
began to work towards that goal
aft er she was laid off from her
successful career in public relations
for a fi nancial service
fi rm in 2015. She decided to
use her savings to fund the
Nourish Spot with a menu
that refl ected her passion for
the healing power of nutrition,
with smoothies, salads
and juices made with a
selection of locally sourced
fruits and vegetables.
Kelly’s friends had
tried to discourage
her, fearing
the neighborhood
would not
support a health food business.
She opened the Nourish Spot and
found many of her permanent
employees from local nonprofits
and participated in the NYC
Summer Youth Empowerment
Program.
Her employees and interns
have a special experience working
for a Black woman-owned
business as well as learning about
ways to prepare healthier foods.
“Th roughout the pandemic
we were able to stay open due
to my young staff ,” Kelly said.
“Th e staff , all former interns, are
paid a fair wage. Everyone in my
store makes at least $15 an hour.”
Guidance from the Together
We Th rive Program not only
helped her keep her staff
employed, but her neighborhood
also nourished, and it now
promotes her to the marketplace
to other Blackowned
businesses in
Queens, embodying
their community’s
resilience and
creativity. Together
We Th rive is a coalition
that provides
access to capital, networks
and technical
assistance to support
the survival, success
and sustainability
of Black-owned
businesses.
“As we celebrate
the work
of historic fi gures
during
Black History
Month, we also have to uplift
the contributions of current
visionaries who are the product
of their ancestors’ hard-won
eff orts,” said Stefanie Alleyne,
senior manager of small business
and workforce development
at Together We Th rive.
“As the saying goes ‘we are our
ancestors’ wildest dream,’ and
Dawn truly exemplifi es that in
how she developed her business
and uses it as an opportunity
to provide healthy options to
her community. Th e businesses
in Together We Th rive all serve
as resources not only providing
products and services dayto
day, but they also provide a
deeper level of economic and
social support.”
Alleyne added that Kelly has
become a resource “for so many
people by sharing her story,” and
many of the businesses they are
supporting have great stories of
their own.
“It just energizes us every day,”
Alleyne said.
Kelly agreed.
“Just the opportunity to help
these struggling businesses is a
blessing,” Kelly said. “Together
We Th rive is all about goodwill,
making the community better.
It’s just a win-win for everyone
involved.”
Photo courtesy of The
Nourish Spot
Nourish Spot
owner Dawn
Kelly is working
with the
United Way
New York
City in a
mentoring
program
during
Black History
Month.
Photo via Getty Images
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