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The National Hook-Up of Black Women, Inc. (NHBW)---organized in
1973---is a charitable corporation dedicated to improving the lives of families
through the arts, culture, health, and human services programs. A 501(c)(3)
organization, the NHBW sponsors a variety of activities throughout the year
to help women, youth, and elders to become knowledgeable of issues that
may adversely, or disproportionately, affect people of color. NHBW is
headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and has chapters located in Cherry Hill,
NJ, Chicago, IL, Joliet, IL, Indianapolis, IN, Orlando, FL, Quincy, FL,
Tallahassee, FL, Washington, DC, Nashville, TN, the Greater Metropolitan
Capital Area, Phoenix, AZ, and Southern Maryland. To learn more about the
NHBW, Inc., and the other 12 Chapters, please log onto www.nhbwinc.org.

Established in October 2004, the Southern Maryland Chapter strives to
make a difference in the black community by pooling the collective
knowledge, experience, and resources of its members to affect change.

Our Priorities are clear:

1. Educate women about breast cancer and create a sense of urgency
about the need to get mamograms and regular checkups to decrease the
number of women who succumb to the disease;

2. Help close the gap between the level of, and access to, quality health
care for people of color;

3. Create an education campaign to focus on cardiovascular disease,
diabetes, and HIV/AIDS;

4. Find ways to help our young people strive and succeed in school; and

5. Sponsor activities that celebrate the wisdom of our elders.

What We've Done

The Southern Maryland Chapter has sponsored a number of events,
usually in concert with compatible organizations, to leverage community
resources and broaden the impact of our activities. The Southern Maryland
Chapter has:

1. Cosponsored the Symposium on Domestic Violence with the City of
District Heights Maryland to create a dialogue around an important social
issue and provide a forum for information exchange;

2. Awarded scholarship to an area college bound high school senior.

3. Conducted workshops on financial literacy to educate women about
money and how to handle it responsibly;

4. Collected over eighteen thousand dollars in cash donations, furniture,
clothing, and other essential items for Hurricane Katrina victims and ensured
that they were given directly to people in the Gulf area;

5. Created the Angela Renay Ray Domestic Violence Advocacy Award to
recognize individuals and/or organizations who go above and beyond the
call of duty to help victims of domestic violence;

6. Sponsored a Prescription Program to assist people, particularly seniors,
in defraying costly medical prescriptions.

7. Under the auspices of a grant from the African American Health Project,
conducted workshops on the warning signs of stroke, lifestyle changes to
prevent strokes, conducted cooking demonstrations and food tastings
prepared from traditional "soul food" recipes prepared in a healthy way.

8. Visited area elementary, middle, and high schools to teach youth about
money, including how to handle it responsibly, value, etc.

We have many new and exciting initiatives under development. If you are
interested in learning more about the National Hook-Up of Black Women,
Southern Maryland Chapter, or would like us to cosponsor an event with
your nonprofit organization, please write us at nhbwmaryland@yahoo.com,
or call (202) 321-0435.