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Turning a salon into "A Salon"

By
Posted on January 22, 2003

talking health at the hairdresser's

Where do women go when they want to discuss their health issues? To their doctor? To their library? To their friends?

Filmmaker Ellen Spiro found out that very often they go to their hair salon.

In 1998 Spiro produced "DiAna's Hair Ego" a documentary about an African American hairdresser who used the conversation-friendly atmosphere of her hair salon to educate her customers about HIV. Through her film and the film's sequel, Spiro helped DiAna's volunteer HIV education and prevention project grow from a single beauty shop in the black community of Columbia, South Carolina to become the South Carolina AIDS Education Network (SCAEN). SCAEN now offers AIDS and HIV information, testing and outreach training and seminars for cosmetologists and barbers across the state.

Making health information available and doing so in a way that is not demeaning or discouraging to the participants is key to the success of a program like SCAEN. The information given must be consistent with the audience's cultural, economic, educational, and religious backgrounds. Outreach materials are not "multipurpose" but should reflect the audience's cultural heritage and the problems they may encounter through decision-making in their communities.

DiAna's educational outreach approach through SCAEN developed over time as she assessed the needs of the people of her community through personal contact. For example, when she first put out condoms, women were too embarrassed to take them; so she and volunteers gift-wrapped them like little Christmas presents, so that the women would be encouraged to take them. It worked. She then began to hold safer sex parties for women, inventing games and activities. SCAEN also does youth outreach and even produced a video of children asking their own questions about AIDS as an educational tool for adults.

DiAna's Hair Ego

Participants of these group outreach projects were tired of decisions being made about health in their community while they weren't "at the table", so they took the initiative to increase their access to quality health information and services. These groups make up a new trend of community health organizations and documentary film producers promoting awareness of AIDS, cancer and other issues through small community venues such as hair salons. These venues can bring them to the populations that they're trying to reach, with information that directly affects their lives. These stories have focused primarily on women's health issues, using Internet, film and media technologies. The success of this movement has prompted other nonprofit organizations and documentary filmmakers to follow suit, even promoting similar community interaction in their media outreach toolkits.

SCAEN is just one example of how community-based information systems are taking shape in this country. SisterNet Online (http://www.sisternetonline.org) is another. SisterNet Online is an ongoing project developed with the support of the Afya Project, a community networking initiative funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). SisterNet is composed of various programs which all focus on the physical and spiritual wellbeing of their participants. The Afya Project specifically created groupware and community forums for online discussions. SisterNet's current initiatives encourage media literacy, specifically by using the Internet.

SisterNet's members, ranging from age 18-80 and of various economic classes, are actively involved as "community action researchers." In this role, they are responsible for evaluating their local healthcare services and identifying and addressing health care problems in their communities. One of the services that SisterNet offers, the Madame CJ Walker Health Empowerment Project, trains local Black hair stylists to serve as health educators and resource and referral agents for their clients. Support services and a small resource library are also available to clients on site.

SisterNet's "community action researchers" focus on marginalized groups in the community and actively involve them in the research and development phase as well as the implementation of SisterNet projects. The participatory nature of the project encourages computer use in the community and thereby helps alleviate the digital divide. SisterNet's Afya project reflects the impetus of libraries to "promote social justice through community-wide alliances." Afya creates collaborative tools and digital resources, including a Web site, chat and bulletin board space, newsgroups, tips and public policy information.

Ann Bishop, co-founder of Prairienet, East Central Illinois' community network and collaborator on the SisterNet online project, delineates the importance of community participation, "Community members are the driving force in any project involving information resources. Rather than having the library decide the needs of the community, we approach on an equal footing, a participative basis. Our approach is ‘What can we do for you?' not one group going to another. There is no us/them dichotomy. We create a community-learning circle, where everyone contributes resources. I would like to see librarians attending important community meetings on joining community action groups. Librarians can bring research perspective to any activist cause."

As a result of the collaboration between Prairienet and SisterNet, the dialogue between SisterNet women and local libraries has opened up. Many of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library students have worked with the SisterNet members to help them take on leadership roles. One member helped develop a workshop around spiritual health. She has since presented at other venues at Chicago Laboratory Schools and helped lead workshops on Community Research Networking.

Information has traditionally been something that people have had to actively seek out, either through their local libraries or through the Internet. However, the advent of networking technologies and new approaches to community outreach means that media groups can bring information to the constituencies they serve. In some cases they can even enable communities to create information. The lessons taught by SisterNet and SCAEN show that direct outreach is a powerful, transformative tool. With commitment, understanding and knowledge, any salon can become "A SALON".