EmpowHERed: Advancing Girls’ & Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Alabama

Mission

In 2024, EmpowHERed, a project to advance sexual and reproductive health equity for Black girls and women in Alabama’s Black Belt was launched. Conceptualized by Dr. Jaleah Rutledge, postdoctoral fellow and Tuskegee University Alumna, this project aims to identify barriers and strengths to reducing sexual and reproductive health disparities among Black girls and women in the Alabama Black Belt region.

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The Project Aims to Achieve This by:

  • Conducting focus groups with Black girls and women between the ages of 13-49 years old
  • Administering online surveys with 200 Black women and girls in Alabama’s Black Belt counties
  • Establishing a Community Advisory Board and Youth Advisory Board to guide the development of the intervention
Acknowledgments: This study is supported by the National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5OD029636)

Funding source

Yale University: Alliance for Scholarship, Engagement, Networking, and Development (ASCEND) grant (PI: Ijeoma Opara). The grant funding was awarded to Dr. Ijeoma Opara and Dr. Lynn Benson, PhD, to support academic collaborations with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and to amplify and increase the representation of HBCU professionals in academia. Dr. Jaleah Rutledge, PhD, will lead the project.

Community Advisory Board

Aliyah Aldorphe

EHE Program Supervisor of Selma AIR- Selma, Alabama

Carlavia Edwards, MPA

Disease Intervention Supervisor – Montgomery, Alabama

Galynese Williams, MSW

Director of Community Engagement of Five Horizons Health Services – Montgomery, Alabama

Jamie Mardis, EdD

Heirs Property Instructional Programs Outreach Administrator of Auburn University Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology – Tuskegee, Alabama

LaWanda Prestage, DHA

Executive Director of Alabama AHEC Network – Livingston, Alabama

Jatatari Reddick-Hardy

Outreach Specialist of Selma AIR, Inc – Selma, Alabama