June is Men’s Health Month: HU Program Addresses Disparities

HAMPTON

To help more young men of color become productive and confident, Hampton University launched a special program one year ago.

 The Minority Men’s Health Initiative tackled violence and crime this year. Both are literally a health disparity in African-American communities. Launched by Dr. William Harvey, president of Hampton University, the nine-month, intensive personal development program aims to help African-American males age 12-25 who live in Hampton or Newport News.

 “At Hampton University we are offering solution-based programs to address the health disparities facing our young men,” Harvey said. “The Minority Men’s Health Initiative is making a real difference in the community.”

The program provides transportation to and from campus, a cash stipend, meals, and snacks. Designed to produce character traits that lead to self-sufficiency in at-risk young men, the program offers workshops and seminars.

“As we look back on the first year of the Promise Program, we are clearly seeing many successes and know that there are many more to come,” said Dr. Linda Malone-Colon, director of the Men’s Violence Prevention Program.

“It has been so very rewarding to witness the positive transformation in the lives of these young men – away from violent tendencies and hopelessness and toward their greatest potential and promise,” Malone-Colon said. “It has also been rewarding to witness the commitment of the honorable men who came each Tuesday after a long day of work to teach, guide, care about and inspire the potential and promise that we all know these young men have.”

Malone-Colon is also the lead principal investigator for the Hampton University-Howard University Men’s Violence Prevention Research Project. This project is part of the HU Minority Men’s Health Initiative, which received first place honors for best research center award at the fourth annual HBCU Awards ceremony last month.

Additionally, she is the founder and executive director of the National Center for African-American Marriages and Parenting at HU, a senior fellow at the Institute for American Values, and the former executive director of the National Council on Family Relations’ National Healthy Marriage Resource Center.

Malone-Colon earned a Ph.D. degree in personality psychology with a minor in neuro-psychology and a master’s in Science degree in clinical psychology both at Howard University.

Hampton University reached out to Howard University to expand the reach of the Promise Program to an even wider population of young at-risk African-American men.  These young men attend workshops and seminars designed to heighten an array of coping skills, including confidence, perseverance, ambition, discipline, compassion and responsibility.

For more information, please phone 728-6793 or email mvprp@hamptonu.edu.