The morning started with sneakers on pavement. By lunchtime, the fellowship hall at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Arlington had shifted into something closer to a neighborhood clinic than a church social — twenty vendors arranged along folding tables, a steady line of neighbors stepping up for flu shots, blood pressure checks, and mammograms they might otherwise have put off for another season.
According to the Fort Worth Report, the 100 Black Men of Greater Dallas/Fort Worth chapter partnered with Texas Health Resources last weekend to host the organization's annual Health and Wellness Expo. More than 200 attendees kicked off the day with a 1K and 5K run meant to encourage healthy habits, then moved indoors for screenings, vaccinations, and a series of seminars on mental health.
A clinic without a waiting-room bill
For many in the room, the draw was as much about trust as it was about the free services. "Our focus is in the African American community because there's a lot of disparities in health services being offered to us," Larry Allen Sr., president of the nonprofit's Dallas/Fort Worth chapter, told the Fort Worth Report. "The way we get it, the type of care that we get — it's very important for us to do this for our community."
The expo offered flu and COVID-19 vaccinations, blood pressure screenings, mammograms, and early detection prostate screenings — the latter a relatively new addition. In previous years, the chapter had offered only prostate screenings at their expo, co-founder Anthony Sampson said. "We believe in mentoring across a lifetime and that's what this is all about," Sampson added. "If you think about it, if our young people get this information early, it will carry on through their entire life."
Closing a stubborn gap
The prostate cancer focus carries weight in the neighborhood. According to the American Cancer Society, Black men have the highest prostate cancer death rate of any ethnic group and are roughly twice as likely to die from the disease as white men. While prostate cancer deaths have dropped by 56% since peaking in 1993, ACS cancer statistics for African American and Black people estimate that 1 in 6 Black men will still develop the cancer in their lifetime.
Lizzy Townsend, outreach coordinator for the Prostate Conditions Education Council, was guiding expo attendees through early detection screenings. Townsend, whose grandfather died of the disease, told the Fort Worth Report that many healthcare providers do not offer prostate cancer testing unless a patient specifically asks for it. "We can just provide a simple blood test to get just those baseline numbers to just really know how to navigate and protect yourself and live a long, healthy life," she said.
What to watch
Founded in 1963, 100 Black Men of America runs the expo as part of its health and wellness pillar, alongside mentorship, education, economic empowerment, and leadership development. Upcoming events from the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter include a financial literacy course and a monthly Saturday leadership development program — a reminder that the groundwork laid on a single Saturday morning tends to keep rippling through the neighborhood long after the folding tables come down.