---Detroit community groups sponsor 'Rock Against Profiling' concert'---The political unrest in the world in response to the September 11th attacks has caused tension and anxiety among many different ethnic communities across the U.S. "Rock Against Profiling" is the community response to the issues surrounding this tension. Sponsored by ACCESS, New Detroit, CARE, NAACP, and many other local organizations, 'Rock Against Profiling' will be held on Saturday, October 20th at the Majestic Theatre on Woodward Avenue in Detroit for a night of music and dancing, celebrating diversity, and promoting awareness on the dangers of racial profiling and ethnic intimidation. For further information or to purchase tickets, call Greta Anderson at 313-843-2844.

---Farrakhan offers guidance on peaceful resolutions to war---
"Atonement: The Road To Peace" will be the topic of a message by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Oct. 16 in observance of the Holy Day of Atonement commemorating the anniversary of the historic Million Man March. He will deliver the message during his 7 p.m. keynote address from Christ Universal Temple, 11901 South Ashland Avenue in Chicago. The message will be delivered to venues throughout the country via satellite. For more information, contact James Muhammad at (773) 602-1230.

---Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney links environment to car buyer trends---Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney proclaimed that there would be dire environmental consequences if current fuel economy trends don't change in the near future. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a report stating that the average fuel efficiency for 2001 model year vehicles is 20.4 miles per gallon and has been declining at a rate of 1.9 miles per gallon since 1988. "I am deeply concerned with the recent Fuel Economy Trends Report. Automobiles are a major source of carbon dioxide pollution in the United States. I am convinced that the biggest contribution we can make to curb global warming is to implement existing technologies to heighten fuel economy standards," stated McKinney. SUVs and light trucks have the worst fuel efficiency standards and account for half of all the new cars sold in the United States. According to the EPA, if manufacturers increased fuel economy as little as three miles per gallon Consumers would save as much as $25 billion a year in fuel costs.

----Opportunity: CASE Fellowship Program (Harvard University) ---Alumni Affairs and Development at Harvard University is seeking applicants to apply for our nine month, full time, CASE Fellowship Program. This fellowship is a CASE program and the successful candidate may be placed at another area participating college or university. The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Program is designed to increase the number of minority professionals in institutional educational advancement. The successful professional candidate will have a college degree and a minimum of three years of full-time work experience in a field other than their institutional advancement, and identify himself or herself as Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, or Native Canadian. Preference will be given to candidates who live in New England, Quebec, or the Atlantic provinces of Canada. During the nine-month paid fellowship, the fellow will follow a full time work schedule and rotate through a broad range of advancement areas. At the end of the fellowship, fellows are expected to apply for a professional position in advancement at the host institution or another educational institution. Interested candidates please send a cover letter and resume to Barbara Nadeau, Director of Human Resources, Alumni Affairs and Development, Harvard University, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA. 02138 or call Barbara Nadeau at (617) 496-6187. DEADLINE to apply is November 9, 2001.

---Celebrating Life Foundation hosts nationwide workshops to educate women with breast cancer about new chemotherapy treatments---The Celebrating Life Foundation is hosting a 17-city breast-cancer education campaign for women in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Beginning in October, the campaign, entitled "New Directions in Adjuvant Treatment of Breast Cancer: Survival of the Fittest - the Benefits of Anthracyclines," will offer women with breast cancer an opportunity to learn about the latest treatment options and discuss their questions with a physician. Doctors will talk about recent developments in chemotherapy including a class of agents called anthracyclines that alters the structure of DNA in cancer cells and shuts down their ability to function. The workshops will be held in the following cities throughout October: Dallas, TX; New York, NY; Boston, MA; Seattle, WA; Philadelphia, PA; Memphis, TN; Nashville, TN; Baltimore, MD; Richmond, VA; Indianapolis, IN; Cincinnati, OH; Atlanta, GA; Tampa, FL; Cleveland, OH; Miami, FL; Detroit, MI; and Minneapolis, MN. "These workshops are an extension of our continuing mission to raise awareness among women with breast cancer about important new treatments and ensure they have the tools necessary to fight their disease," said Sylvia Dunnavant, Founder and Executive Director of the Celebrating Life Foundation. For more information, contact Sylvia Dunnavant via email: clf@airmail.net. The Celebrating Life Foundation (CLF) is a non-profit organization devoted to educating the African-American community and women of color about the risk of breast cancer, to encouraging advancements in the early detection and treatment, and to improving survival rates among these women.

---Women's Health---
According to a new national survey of African American, Hispanic and Caucasian women released by the American Social Health Association (ASHA), women regardless of ethnic background maintain there are barriers keeping them from seeking gynecologic healthcare. Some of the obstacles mentioned include lack of health insurance and cost of care. However, some less expected factors include language and cultural differences between patients and their healthcare professionals, discomfort with a physician, fear of diagnosis and embarrassment. According to the survey, over one-half (55 percent) of women, regardless of ethnicity, claim that at least one of these barriers has interfered with their obtaining gynecologic healthcare. Cost (24 percent), language and cultural differences (20 percent), discomfort with a physician (20 percent), fear of diagnosis (14 percent) and embarrassment (10 percent) were cited as major obstacles. These results expose the dynamics influencing women's healthcare practices and may explain why women often do not seek gynecologic healthcare when they suspect even common gynecologic problems, such as vaginal yeast infections. In fact, according to the survey respondents, 25 percent of women have not visited a physician for even a routine gynecologic annual examination in the past year and 28 percent claimed that they do not go for a routine exam once a year. While the survey revealed that a large number of women reported that feelings of embarrassment have interfered with their seeking gynecologic healthcare, Hispanic women were twice as likely as Caucasian and African American women to mention this as a reason for not seeking professional care. Cost was mentioned by 24 percent of the total number of survey respondents when asked about barriers, with Caucasian women mentioning this obstacle the most frequently and African American and Hispanic women mentioning cost less frequently (24 percent, 16 percent, 20 percent). This survey was conducted by Opinion Research Company International.

---National Medical Association study suggests trust is a factor in organ donation---African Americans are less likely to donate organs than whites, according to a study published in this month's Journal of the National Medical Association (JNMA). The study, "Differences in Attitude Toward Organ Donation Among African American and Whites in the United States" was conducted by William Minniefield, Jun Yang, MD, and Paola Muti, MD of the University of Buffalo, New York, State University, Social and Preventive Medicine. The study found the awareness of becoming a living organ donor was high with all ethnic groups. However, donation rate remains low among all groups sampled. It also found approximately half of African American respondents indicated a lack of trust of doctors and the medical system with their care. This lack of trust for doctors and the medical system by African Americans is a hindrance in recruiting donors. The study also found the ethnic background of an individual requesting organ donation is a major factor in receiving approval from a possible donor family and needs to be considered if organ donation is to be increased. For a copy of the study, contact Alisa Mosely at 202-347-1895. NMA is the oldest and largest professional organization representing the interests of more than 25,000 African American physicians.

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