Who We Are

Black Women’s Learning Institute (BWLI) is a national institute at NDRI-USA Inc., a not-for-profit research and development organization that provides high-impact actionable solutions to pressing public health problems. BWLI and NDRI-USA Inc. share a goal of building community and health practitioner relationships to bridge the gap between research and practice in public health.

Our mission is to improve health and wellness for Black women across the lifespan through innovative resources, programmatic support, and culturally-relevant public health education.

Our Mission

At BWLI, we are committed to promoting the physical health and mental well-being of Black women across the United States. We envision a world where Black women have equitable access to public health education, and where their health and wellness needs are prioritized and celebrated at individual, interpersonal, community, and policy levels.

To support our mission, we use technology and multimodal education to reach Black women living in rural and urban areas in the deep South and across the United States.

We lead meaningful community engagement efforts across the US, foster relationships, and work closely with health clinics and public health organizations to reduce health and social disparities for Black women across the lifespan.

Black women deserve to live long, healthy, happy lives.

Our partnership is centered around advancing innovative, evidence-based practices and centering health and racial equity to support public health practitioners in providing high quality clinical and non-clinical care to Black women nationally.

Our Story

BWLI was born in the summer of 2020 in the midst of the racial reckoning in the US after the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. We started with a series of roundtable discussions about Black women’s health and wellness with a focus on HIV/AIDS across the lifespan.  The roundtables were very highly attended and the overwhelming feedback we received from health departments, teaching hospitals, community based organizations, and other groups showed there was a great need for Black women to have a safe space to have discussions around health and wellness in multiple areas. 

 

We structured these discussions over a three-day period where we focused on different age groups and the unique challenges they face. We moderated the discussion which included Black women clinical providers and Black women living with HIV.  

These roundtables were the impetus to BWLI’s work nationally.

Adolescent Health Roundtable 1
Adolescent Health Roundtable
Sexual Reproductive Health Roundtable 2
Sexual & Reproductive Health Roundtable
Mature women roundtable 3
Mature Women Roundtable

Meet the Co-Directors

Hanna Tessema, DrPH, MPH

Hanna-Tessema-BWLI 2
Hanna is a public health practitioner with over 18 years of experience, including ten years in New York City leading capacity building and technical assistance efforts, writing curricula and leading trainings on U.S. health disparities and infectious disease prevention. She’s spent her public health career building strategic partnerships, conducting research, evaluating programs, and leading community engagement efforts. She focuses on conducting research and applying behavioral theory to the development of real-world public health interventions. She received her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) from The George Washington University, where she also currently serves as adjunct faculty teaching Social & Behavioral Health.

Lisa Frederick, BA

Lisa-Frederick-BWLI

Lisa is a public health professional who has devoted over 20 years to working in HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, and sexual health. She has years of experience leading technical assistance training, building organizational capacity, and developing programmatic infrastructure. Her expertise in translational educational research programs resulted in the development of an HIV women’s health program focusing on issues of intimate partner violence, menopause, resilience, and sexual health. She also led the dissemination of CDC’s “HIV Treatment Works” campaign in nine markets throughout the U.S. Lisa graduated from Empire College State University of New York with a BA and a concentration in Studies in Social Policy and Research.

Help us continue supporting Black women's health across the lifespan and reducing health disparities by donating today.

Black Women’s Learning Institute (BWLI) is a national institute at NDRI-USA, Inc., a not-for-profit research and development organization that provides high-impact actionable solutions to pressing public health problems. BWLI and NDRI-USA Inc. share a goal of building community and health practitioner relationships to bridge the gap between research and practice in public health.

At BWLI, we are committed to promoting the physical health and mental well-being of Black women across the United States. We envision a world where Black women have equitable access to public health education, and where their health and wellness needs are prioritized and celebrated at individual, interpersonal, community, and policy levels.

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