Project NAF (Nurturing Asheville & Area Families)

Sophie Dixon, Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church board member, and community activist.

Healthy Living: “I’m Worth It”

Mission
Mount Zion Community Development, Inc., a 501c3 Non-Profit community-based organization focused on (1) empowerment of the individual and community by providing spiritual, economic, socio-economic, education, and cultural opportunities to the greater Asheville/Buncombe County community to address the need for jobs, housing, crime prevention, education and health care, and (2) collaboration with local community-based organizations in the physical redevelopment of the “Block” for housing and supportive services.

Now, it is just as important to keep taking care of yourself and your family through a new mindset, new choices, and settling into new routines. The State Center for Health Statistics reports “Race is considered a “marker” for certain health problems.” Although race or ethnicity per se does not cause a particular health problem or status, it is likely that factors such as income, education, access to health care, stress, and racism are among the major causes of the poorer health of minorities on many health measures, compared to whites.

Poverty and a lack of access to health care are two main reasons why
North Carolina’s African Americans are generally in poorer health than
whites based on mortality and disease incidence patterns. Overall,
African Americans comprise about 87 percent of persons of minority
races in North Carolina. In Buncombe County:

•    About 1 in 5 adults rate their health “fair” or “poor.” Minority
residents are substantially more likely to report poor health
•    In 2007, Infant Mortality Rate: 9.8 per 1,000 births
•    Though they account for just 7 percent of the population in
Buncombe County, African Americans comprised one-fifth of newly
reported county HIV/AIDS cases in 2007
•    Disparities in health rates between Minority and Euro American
residents is highest in the area of: AIDS (15:1); Homicide (6:1);
Diabetes (3:1); and, Prostate cancer (2:1).

The Department of Health & Human Service’s (DHHS) Office of
Minority Health & Health Disparities in its collaborative effort to
address health disparity gaps among African American and other
minorities, has provided additional funding to grantees to provide
enhanced education and outreach to minority populations on the
prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, breast cancer,
diabetes, obesity, hypertension, sickle cell anemia, and HIV infections
and by addressing cultural and communication barriers to quality care
by improving interpersonal process between clinicians and patients.

Project NAF is blessed to have received this additional funding, it’s
educational focus: minority infant mortality, breast cancer education,
diabetes and HIV/AIDS.

Elder John Hayes, operator and director of WRES radio station, president of the Asheville-Buncombe NAACP.

On May 31 Mount Zion Community Development, Inc. will honor two
Buncombe County trailblazers, Elder John Hayes and Mrs. Sophie Dixon,
who through their continued hard work and dedication are committed to
enhancing educational initiatives that impact the health and well-being
of the population served.

This task is completed through a local radio station that reaches
thousands of individuals and their families throughout the City of
Asheville, the County of Buncombe and beyond.

Elder John Hayes states, “As urbanites, we do not always get
information and when its packaged, it is usually in 30-60 second
segments. We do not always receive information that is vital for the
health, wealth-being and well-being issues. We have to hear it over and
over and over again. So having a radio station affords us the
opportunity to cater to community needs in providing information that
impacts our health and well-being.” In having a local radio station,
Mrs. Sophie Dixon stated, “There was an overall sense of not having a
voice and a strong desire for the community to share information.”

With that being said, Mount Zion Community Development, Inc. (MZCD)
cordially invites you to participate in a health initiative program to
honor these community health pioneers. This event, with the theme
Healthy Living, “I’m Worth It,” will be held at the Mount Zion Baptist
Church in Asheville on Sunday, May 31 at 3 p.m. Elder Samuel Payne,
Pastor of the Sycamore Temple Church of God in Christ, will be the
guest speaker.

Take steps to take care of yourself and your family. Do it now! Do it for you! Do it for the ones you love!
Project NAF wholeheartedly thanks the N.C. Department of Health &
Human Services Division of Public Health’s Healthy Beginnings Project,
the Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities, and Buncombe
County for providing funding for this project. Project NAF is a program
of the Mount Zion Community Development, Inc.

For additional information, please contact Belinda K. Grant at (828)
350-9821, Shari Smith or Donna Rice at (828) 225-8155. Email
[email protected], or visit www.mtzionasheville.org.