Multicultural Outreach

For people of color, there is a particularly significant shortage in organ donation. Some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and liver are found more frequently in racial and ethnic minority populations than in the general population. For example, African Americans and other minorities are three times more likely to suffer from end-stage renal disease than whites. Often, these patients’ lives can be saved only through transplantation.

Transplant success rates increase when organs are matched between members of the same ethnic and racial group. Generally, people are more genetically similar to people of their own ethnicity or race than to people of other races.

In partnership with Southside Community Health Services, a Minneapolis-based community health clinic, LifeSource has focused on increasing the number of African Americans who commit to becoming an organ and tissue donor. Since our dedicated outreach began in 2004, the donation rate in the African American community in the Upper Midwest has increased from 29% to 79%. This life-saving increase was accomplished through the dedication of community members serving on our Community Advisory Council, strategic partnerships with local organizations and monetary support from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

LifeSource and Southside continue to build upon our success with an initiative to increase the number of African American men in the Twin Cities who become designated organ donors and share their intention to donate with their family. This program will implement culturally-specific community education with African American barbers serving as trusted messengers in providing education for their customers in the barbershop setting. This initiative is supported by a grant from HRSA.

For more information about these programs, please contact:
Susan Mau Larson
Director of Public Affairs
651-603-7852
smlarson@life-source.org