Hip Hop 4 Life

Hip Hop 4 Life

Founded	2003
Founder	Tamekia Flowers
Type	NPO 501 c(3) not-for-profit
Focus	Engaging, educating and empowering young people to adopt a healthy lifestyle
Location	New York, NY
Area served	New York & National
Method	Enlisting health professionals, entertainers, celebrities and athletes to educate young people on health issues through interactive workshops and empowerment seminars.
Key people	Tanisha Tate, Ianna A. Small
Slogan	Creating a generation of mentally, emotionally and physically healthy leaders.
Website	www.hiphop4lifeinc.org

Hip Hop 4 Life (Formerly Hip Hip 4 Health) is a 501 c(3) not-for-profit youth empowerment organization dedicated to engaging, educating and empowering young people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Health professionals, entertainers, celebrities and athletes are enlisted to educate young people on health issues through interactive workshops and empowerment seminars. Hip Hop 4 Life serves young people aged 10–18, with a special emphasis on at risk and low income youth.

Since its inception in 2003, Hip Hop 4 Life has partnered with youth and community service organizations to execute workshops and events that have reached thousands of young people nationwide.

Programs

Shades of Beauty: Today's Girls, Tomorrow's Women An empowerment program designed to address issues affecting today’s girls including body image, self-esteem, the true definition of “beauty,” goal-setting, sexuality, peer pressure, hygiene, drugs/alcohol/tobacco, and the negative portrayal of women in entertainment, media and society. Hip Hop 4 Life helps girls to realize their true beauty and empower them to be truly outstanding.

Man Up! An Empowerment Program For Boys (ages 10–17) An empowerment program designed to address issues a boy faces during this transition to manhood including self-esteem, respect, responsibility, sexuality, hygiene, alcohol/drugs/tobacco vision-building, goal-setting and the true definition of a man. Hip Hop 4 Life works to develop a positive foundation in the lives of the boys. In November 2007, Hip Hop 4 Life launched Man UP! In partnership with BET’s Emmy-award winning Rap It Up program.

Teen Empowerment Team Teen empowerment program that provides a viable platform to assist teens in the development of their leadership potential, communication skills and self-esteem. This initiative engages 50 teens (aged 13–18) across the New York City area in support of Hip Hop 4 Life events and advisory committees.

Events

Hip Hop 4 Life's Past and Future Events include:

• BET Rap It Up and Hip Hop 4 Life Youth Empowerment Tour As part of a national HIV/AIDS public awareness initiative, BET Rap It Up partnered with Hip Hop 4 Life and NYC's Hot 97 radio station to host a series of celebrity forums. The 4-day tour visited local New York City high schools to address social behaviors and attitudes impacting today's young adults.
• Georgia Campaign For Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Atlanta, GA
• Health Time At the Apollo, Harlem Health Day
• National Kids Day, Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, Bronx, NY
• 10 Week Co-Ed Empowerment Workshops, Brooklyn's Children Museums
• YouthFest 2008
• YouthFest 2009
• YouthFest 2010, Saturday, September 25, 2010 at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. Topic: Let's Talk About Sex: Sexual Health, STI's, STDs, HIV/AIDS, Birth Control, Abstinence, Responsibility, Prevention, Sexual Pressure, and Teem Pregnancy.

Official Alliance Partners

• Girls Incorporated of New York City
• The Girl Scout Council of Greater New York
• The YMCA of Brooklyn
• Tomorrow Leaders, Inc.
• Holthouse Boys & Girls Club (Houston)
• Challengers Boys & Girls Club (Los Angeles)
• Whitehead Boys & Girls Club (Atlanta)
• FBR Boys & Girls Club (Washington DC)

Corporate Supporters

• VH1 Soul
• BET
• BET Rap-It-Up
• Universal Music Group
• Power 105.1 (NY)
• Power 106 (LA)
• Radio Disney
• Deutsche Bank
• The Walt Disney Company
• Washington Mystics
• Black Beat
• Right On!
• Coca Cola
• Hasbro
• Mudd Jeans
• ABC Radio Networks
• Champs Sports
• The Princeton Review
• P&G

Celebrity Partners	Professional Partners
Essence Atkins, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Power 105's Egypt, Kwame, Ed Lover, Mie Jones, Sammie, Kenya Moore, MC Lyte, Lloyd	Lakiya Oliver (Fox Entertainment Group), Kierstan Tucker (Kedar Entertainment), Shanti Das (Universal Motown Records), Darlise Blount (BET), Mercedes Blount (BET), Richelle Cross (Class & Sass), Dana Singleton (Sigma Group)

Hip Hop 4 Life Executive Team

Tamekia Flowers, Founder/Executive Director

Tanisha Tate, Program Director

External links

• BET Rap It Up
• We Can