Our Mission
HUES Women's Health Advocacy Institute is a 501(c)(3) organization that fosters health equity.
Our mission revolves around increasing access to quality and inclusive care for Black, Indigenous and/or Native, Latina and/or Hispanic, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern women.
Through education, dialogue, resources, and research, they strive to empower women of color in their health and wellness journey.
HUES envisions a community that confronts both interpersonal and systemic barriers women of color face while navigating health and wellness systems.
Our goal is to maintain and increase health equity by promoting advocacy, facilitating intergenerational conversations, and sharing inclusive research on health and wellness.
Our Vision
What's In A Name?
What's In A Name?
The prolific Black, disabled, feminist, lesbian, writer, mother, and poet (in no particular order) Audre Lorde shared the words written below.
“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.” -Audre Lorde
For folks of color, specifically, Black folks living in the United States, naming and defining is an act that we could say is still new given that the freedom to name ourselves was only possible 159 years ago.
The majority of Black families hold the names of those who owned our ancestors. Amongst, Hispanic families, surnames of the father and mother are central to a sense of belonging, and they are deeply connected to identity. Thus, pronouncing, writing, and using names correctly when referring to Latina and/or Hispanic women fosters a welcoming atmosphere. And, so, HUES is intentional. HUES is representative of Women of Color of EVERY hue of melanin. HUES was created to make space for Black women, Latina and/or Hispanic women, Asian and Pacific Islander women, Indigenous women, and Middle Eastern women because as Audre Lorde states in another writing, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” What happens when, as Women of Color, we understand that we have differences, and yet, we are all still treated inequitably? What happens when Women of Color each demand greater from our providers and our systems of care?
In addition, HUES was founded by Dr. Carter, a Black woman with Cherokee (Arkansas) and Choctaw (Louisiana) ancestry, and therefore, it is imperative for this organization to advance health and wellness equity for all Women of Color. HUES is a mechanism of defining ourselves for ourselves, and defining what equity and access means along the way.
Movements are Built in Waves
Waves are composed of Crests, Troughs, Peaks, and a Base, and although we can identify them, sometimes the parts are fluid and fast moving. Building HUES Women's Health Advocacy Institute has been fluid and fast moving.
2022 marks the place where both the trough and crest of our movement came together as an exciting, and yet, overwhelming beginning.
In August 2022, Dr. Carter was asked to speak about HUES at a conference on Breast Health in Dayton, Ohio. This opportunity would signal the growth of the organization. Grant funding was generated, speaking engagements happened, courses were built to transform the way providers cared for women of color, and new opportunities came about.
From August 2022-May 2023, HUES was at a peak. Dr. Carter entered into a pitch competition for funding and business support, and won the competition under the name the “Blooming Circle”. A year and a half later in January 2024, HUES is still here, but the dispersion is real.
Dispersion is what happens when particles from waves move so franticly and quickly that it impacts the precision of the wave. Before the momentum builds again, because it will, Dr. Carter, along with our committed Board Directors, are committed to giving our structure a base that is needed to make sure the movement that is HUES will remain for years to come.
