“More than 30% of the black population in Minnesota is obese, and 72% are likely to have diabetes. In addition, 56% of Minnesota children are obese, and those numbers are significantly lower in the northern part of the state.”
This is according to Minnesota entrepreneur and founder of VF Solutions, Valerie Fleurantin.
Health equity has long been controversial in Minnesota. A report titled Advancing Health Equity in Minnesota, submitted to the legislature in 2014, highlighted that structural racism and unequal social and economic factors contribute to health disparities between African Americans, American Indians and whites.
While it’s true that socio-economic factors such as education, income and housing also contribute significantly to how healthy someone is, it’s also true that to become healthier, people should generally make healthier food, physical activity and mental wellness choices. .
Fleurantin, or Coach Val as she’s affectionately known, offers her training on a donation basis. She started her business in 2014 to reduce health disparities between Minnesota and its northern neighbours and curb the high rates of obesity and obesity-related diseases and improve the lives of people in Minnesota through health and fitness. These efforts resulted from an innovation she developed called “Afrokaribe”, a dance fitness class with a mix of reggae, Afro beats and hip-hop.
In an interview with The Conversation with Al McFarlane, Coach Val explained that she wanted to create a culturally significant product that paid homage to her Haitian roots but also got people in Minnesota fit and healthy in a fun way.
“I wanted fitness to be something you don’t have to think about. It’s like just dancing and having fun while doing it. That’s how I got into Afrokaribe, which I created to celebrate my culture and have a thing for us where we don’t need a code switch and can just show up as ourselves and have fun.”
What started as a class of five has grown into a community of participants of all ages who understand that fitness is more than just physical activity and is also beneficial for mental and emotional well-being by reducing depression, anxiety and stress.
When she’s not offering community wellness classes, she’s helping to create jobs in Twin Cities communities by training trainers to teach Afrokaribe. She also helps small and large businesses develop a wellness programme focusing on employees’ physical and mental well-being.
Another entrepreneur contributing to the socio-economic health of Black Americans in Minnesota is David McGee, founder of Build Wealth Minnesota. This company has since 2004 been working on addressing financial disparities between African Americans and their white counterparts.
A 2019 report by APM Research Lab revealed that 77% of whites in Minnesota own their homes, while only 19% of African Americans own their homes, making the gap between the two communities over 58%.
Having been a banker for over 40 years, McGee is too familiar with these disempowering numbers, which he says he was exposed to in his work as an underwriter who was also training underwriters.
“That’s the person who decides whether or not you’re going to get a loan. And at the time, when there were only 15 black ones in the nation, I was one of those. And so we really started Build Wealth Minnesota spun from a company that my wife and I started to start training underwriters to get into the financial services field,” McGee says.
Then while building their company, McGee and his wife became increasingly aware of predatory lending practices that were targeting people of color and in a sense setting them back and harming them. At that point, they began to teach people in Minnesota how to build sustainable, social and economic wealth through their Family Stabilization Plan.
“It’s a real comprehensive curriculum that we provide as well as. It’s a model where there are ten weeks of classes that families take, and then up to two years’ worth of coaching.”
Over the last two decades, Build Wealth Minnesota has helped thousands of families own homes. Now, through their initiative, 9000 Equities, the company aims to take this to another level by helping 9000 families in Minnesota become first-time homeowners.
Through a loan pool and an excellent partner program with stakeholders such as the Bush Family Foundation, North West Area Foundation and others, the company aims to do its part by closing the disparity gap with at least 15%.
As stated earlier, personal choices make up one’s destiny. Still, it is also true that structural hindrances such as prejudicial lending and underwriters make attaining that destiny harder.
However, with community leaders like Coach Val and the McGees, there is evidence that communities need to work together to make better choices and build organisations that empower and educate the communities they service too to make better choices.
To join in on Coach Val’s Afrokaribe classes, visit her website at https://www.vfhealthfitnesssolutions.com/. Or if you’d like to find out more about the 9000 Equities program for Black Homeowners, visit the website at https://www.9000equities.com.
