Alicia Keys and her mom arriving for the Black Ball Redux Keep A Child Alive last month. Harel Rintzler/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)

Well-known organizations such as the NAACP, Rainbow Push Coalition, National Urban League, National Action Network, and the United Negro College Fund have given back across the country. But here are nine other nonprofits that also support African-Americans. Check them out!

Source: Concreteloop.com

The strides women are making in the world are not lost on business magazine Fast Company. That’s why they’ve dedicated their July/August issue to 60 female influencers who are changing the game in their feature, “The League of Extraordinary Women.” And though we’re always happy to revel in the accomplishments of women worldwide, what’s especially nice about this list is that it celebrates the successes of a number of black women from Alicia Keys, who landed the cover, Oprah, Laila Ali, and Liya Kebede, to Tiffany Dufu (The White House Project), Leymah Gbowee (Women and Peace Security Network), and Michele Ozumba (Women’s Funding Network).

The magazine talked to Alicia Keys about her work in South Africa with the Keep a Child Alive organization and how a chance offer from AIDS activist Leigh Blake to tour the country and witness its AIDS epidemic firsthand back in 2002, led Alicia to become one of the most prominent celebrity AIDS activists.

“I started meeting these kids who had been so isolated and alone, and not much younger than me,” said Alicia who is now 31 but was only 21 when she began her work. “It was so deep to me. Leigh had a very clear vision, that if we could get these kids the right antiretroviral medication, we could allow them to lead a full life. I dedicated myself to that vision right then.”

The two ended up founding Keep a Child Alive later as an organization dedicated to raising funds for medication and HIV-related programs.

“When I think of these crazy stories of women in certain countries who are forbidden birth control or protection of any sort,” she said, sighing, “these married women concerned that their husbands have the virus . . . it works out in the worst way for them.”

Thankfully, the millions of dollars she’s raised over the past 10 years has helped to make sure things start to work out the best for these women. Check out the full list of Fast Company‘s extraordinary women here. What do you think?

Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.

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Alicia Keys is known for the pushing the envelope when it comes to raising awareness and support for her AIDS nonprofit, Keep a Child Alive. But according to some folks, she may have pushed the envelope a little bit too far with her latest ad campaign that features Hollywood stars in “traditional” African tribal dress with the tagline, “I Am African.” Off hand, the ad doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. African-American stars like Janet Jackson, Iman, Tyson Beckford and Alicia Keys herself are photographed in tribal face paint and traditional “African” headdresses. But several white actors like Richard Gere, Sarah Jessica Parker, Liv Tyler and Gwyneth Paltrow are also included.

Here’s where the uproar comes in. Are these ads disrespectful of African culture?

To Keys’ credit, I’m sure she had no intension of offending anyone. As explained on the Keep a Child Alive website, “each and every one of us contains DNA that can be traced back to our African ancestors. These amazing people traveled far and wide. Now they need our help.”

Ok. We get it. But what are these images of “privileged celebrities”—as AOL Black Voices describes them—really conveying? That in order to get people involved in the fight against an epidemic that plagues all of humanity we need celebrities to play dress up and declare that they are African? Is it too farfetched to be yourself to fight AIDS? AIDS is a global epidemic, so regardless of one’s race or ethnicity, the message should be conveyed that this is a human—not solely African—issue and any and everyone should get involved to save lives.

Just as Keys’ campaign last year featured celebrities dead in their coffin and declaring that they will stay off of social media until fans donate $1 million did not resonate for many, it appears that this campaign is suffering the same fate. In any case, Keys got people talking, but was it in the most effective way? Will it strike enough cords to make people take action against AIDS?

Alicia Keys is known for the pushing the envelope when it comes to raising awareness and support for her AIDS nonprofit, Keep a Child Alive. But according to some folks, she may have pushed the envelope a little bit too far with her latest ad campaign that features Hollywood stars in “traditional” African tribal dress with the tagline, “I Am African.” Off hand, the ad doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. African-American stars like Janet Jackson, Iman, Tyson Beckford and Alicia Keys herself are photographed in tribal face paint and traditional “African” headdresses. But several white actors like Richard Gere, Sarah Jessica Parker, Liv Tyler and Gwyneth Paltrow are also included.

Here’s where the uproar comes in. Are these ads disrespectful of African culture?

To Keys’ credit, I’m sure she had no intension of offending anyone. As explained on the Keep a Child Alive website, “each and every one of us contains DNA that can be traced back to our African ancestors. These amazing people traveled far and wide. Now they need our help.”

Ok. We get it. But what are these images of “privileged celebrities”—as AOL Black Voices describes them—really conveying? That in order to get people involved in the fight against an epidemic that plagues all of humanity we need celebrities to play dress up and declare that they are African? Is it too farfetched to be yourself to fight AIDS? AIDS is a global epidemic, so regardless of one’s race or ethnicity, the message should be conveyed that this is a human—not solely African—issue and any and everyone should get involved to save lives.

Just as Keys’ campaign last year featured celebrities dead in their coffin and declaring that they will stay off of social media until fans donate $1 million did not resonate for many, it appears that this campaign is suffering the same fate. In any case, Keys got people talking, but was it in the most effective way? Will it strike enough cords to make people take action against AIDS?

By Brittany Hutson

Originally regarded as a gay white man’s disease in the early 1980s, nearly three decades later it is the Black community that has been hit the hardest by HIV and AIDS. Despite continuous messages of awareness and prevention, Blacks, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for nearly 46 percent of people diagnosed with HIV at the end of 2007, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide, there is an estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV and AIDS, and an estimated 1.8 million people died as a result of AIDS last year alone. The virus knows no boundary—whether you are homo or heterosexual, male or female, young or old, anyone can be at risk. Here’s a list of 11 activists that have joined the fight against AIDS:

Sheryl Lee Ralph

An AIDS activist for over 25 years, award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph first took notice of how HIV/AIDS infiltrated and crippled our community in the early 1980s during her stint on Broadway in the classic, Dreamgirls. Back then, a mysterious disease was floating around called GRID (Gay Related Immune Disorder) that was killing gay men on Broadway and no one wanted to talk about it. As a memorial to the friends she lost to HIV/AIDS, Ralph founded The Diva Foundation in 1991, a national not-for-profit that uses music and entertainment to inform, educate and erase the stigma which is still attached to the disease. Ralph also wrote, directed and performed a one-woman play called Sometimes I Cry, which tells real life stories of women striving to cope with HIV/AIDS. Ralph is a national spokesperson for the National Minority AIDS council and sits on the boards of several AIDS organizations. In 2005, she received the United Nation’s first Red Ribbon Leadership Award for her tireless work with AIDS.

By Khadija Allen

The biggest names in hip-hop and R&B music will be headlining the Black Ball NY charity event this year to raise awareness for families inflicted with HIV/AIDS. The event which will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on September 30, will garner a host of surprise entertainers such as Jay-Z, Sade, and Alicia Keys to render a hand in the communal efforts in India, Africa and beyond to eradicate the disease or better yet, find a cure.

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