What’s Inside The ManKave®?

By Victor N. Ukwu, MD | Founder, Maven Community Health, Inc. & The ManKave®

In 2019, during my final year of family medicine residency, I was tasked with a quality improvement project focused on colorectal cancer screening. The assignment was straightforward: find ways to improve screening rates. As I began looking into the research, I found myself asking a much bigger question.

Why were so many men, particularly Black men, less likely to access preventive healthcare?

As physicians, we routinely urge patients to get screened, monitor their blood pressure, exercise, and adopt healthier habits. Yet I kept wondering whether we were doing enough to reach men before health concerns brought them into the examination room.

For generations, barbershops have been places where men gather, exchange ideas, debate topics like sports to politics, and share pieces of their lives. There is a familiarity there, a sense of community that doesn’t always exist in traditional healthcare settings.

With this in mind, I began developing an initiative called Chop It Up where conversations about colorectal cancer screening, mental health, and preventive care are brought directly into barbershops.

Then COVID happened.

Like so many things during that period, the idea had to evolve. After moving from Tennessee to New Jersey, I began hosting virtual conversations and webinars focused on men’s health. Slowly, the concept took shape. And somewhere along the way, Chop It Up became The ManKave®.

The name felt right—It invited curiosity. What happens inside this space? What are men talking about? And perhaps most importantly, could we create an environment where men felt comfortable enough to have conversations they might otherwise avoid?

When The Conversation Became Real

On June 16, 2023, we hosted our first ManKave gathering at St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson, New Jersey.

Approximately 60 men attended. We had food, sports memorabilia, and former NFL player Roman Oben joining us. There was even a football signed by Saquon Barkley. We wanted to create an atmosphere that men would genuinely enjoy.

But what stayed with me wasn’t the turnout. It was what happened when the conversations began.

We discussed mental health, sexual health, heart disease, and prevention. Yet the topic men wanted to explore most was mental health. Men began sharing stories about fatherhood, relationships, identity, and the pressures they carried—often quietly.

I remember being struck by how willing some men were to share deeply personal experiences with people they had only recently met.

We often talk about men’s reluctance to seek healthcare, but that afternoon challenged that narrative and helped me realize that most men are simply waiting for an opportunity to talk about their experiences. It made me think more deeply about the types of environments we thrive in, where information can be shared, and the types of relationships that can be built with and amongst each other.

One thing became irrefutably clear: The men wanted to learn, they wanted answers, and they wanted to hear from one another.

Many said they lacked the time needed to prioritize their health. Their curiosity reinforced something I had noticed throughout my medical training: it’s not that Black men are not interested in early prevention education, healthcare providers simply may need to do a better job of meeting them where they’re at.

Long before a man reaches the recommended age for routine colorectal cancer screening, he is already making decisions about food, alcohol, stress, relationships, physical activity, and whether to establish a relationship with a primary care physician. Engaging them at these stages, and not just when major health concerns have already arisen, is where the most potential for impact lives. 

This understanding, and that first gathering, helped me understand what The ManKave® could become.

From Community Engagement to Lasting Change

Over the years, we’ve grown from intimate gatherings of 30 or 40 men at the Richard Rodda Community Center in Teaneck to our first annual Summit at Fairleigh Dickinson University that reached more than 130 men and, most recently, our second Summit at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, which saw an audience of nearly 100.

Through Maven Community Health, Inc., we’ve been able to build partnerships, bring healthcare professionals and community leaders together, and create experiences centered on men’s wellness.

Our guiding philosophy has remained simple: Engage. Empower. Evolve®.

First, we must engage men. We must meet them where they are, understand what matters to them, and create opportunities they want to participate in.

Then we empower them. We provide information, introduce resources, encourage honest conversations, and help men recognize the role they can play in their own health.

And finally, we evolve.

A man may attend a health event, learn something about his blood pressure, and leave inspired to make a change. But what happens three months later? Has he established care with a physician? Is he taking his medication? Has he found healthier ways to manage stress? Does he have a support system to help him stay on track??

These are the questions that increasingly shape our work to become the most valuable resource to the community that it can be.

Beyond The Walls Of Healthcare

Earlier this year, I assumed the role of Chief Medical Officer at Saint James Health, a federally qualified health center in Newark, New Jersey.

This responsibility has given me another perspective on the challenges of community health.

I see the importance of strong primary care, coordinated services, and helping patients navigate an increasingly complicated healthcare system. I also see how much a person’s health is shaped by what happens outside our facilities.

A man may be managing hypertension while struggling with financial insecurity. He may be caring for an aging parent while neglecting his own mental health. He may want to eat better but have limited access to affordable, nutritious food.

These biopyschosocial determinants of health are connected.

And they remind me why the eight dimensions of wellness—physical, emotional, social, spiritual, financial, occupational, intellectual, and environmental—have always been central to The ManKave®.

My experiences in community engagement and healthcare leadership continue to reinforce the importance of treating an individual holistically, and considering all of these factors rather than any one in isolation. At our summits, I listen to men who openly share their struggles with fatherhood, financial pressures, and mental health in community settings, yet those same challenges often go unspoken during a routine medical visit. I’ve also seen how difficult it can be to manage a chronic condition when the demands of work, family, and everyday survival leave little room for self-care, reminding me that meaningful healthcare begins with understanding the life a person lives beyond the examination room.

To help bridge this gap, I believe we need more opportunities for physicians, behavioral health professionals, social workers, community organizations, and other trusted partners to work together in a more intentional manner. This way, it becomes easier for men to find their way into care and remain engaged once they get there.

The Legacy We’re Building

When I think about The ManKave® ten years from now, I don’t begin with the number of Summits we’ve hosted or the sponsorships we’ve secured. I think about the men whose lives might look different because they found a community that encouraged them to take their health seriously.

I envision more men establishing relationships with primary care before a diagnosis forces them to. More men getting screened for colorectal cancer, managing their blood pressure, addressing their mental health, and finding support through life’s challenges. I envision stronger partnerships between physicians, behavioral health professionals, social workers, and community organizations—working together to care for the whole person.

But perhaps most importantly, I envision men showing up differently for themselves, their families, and one another.

That is the future we’re working toward.

The ManKave® began with a simple question: How do we get men to engage in their health?

Today, the question has grown: How do we build a community that empowers men to live healthier, more connected, and more purposeful lives?

Engage. Empower. Evolve®.

Welcome Inside The ManKave®.

Victor N. Ukwu, MD, is a family medicine physician, Chief Medical Officer of Saint James Health in Newark, New Jersey, and founder of Maven Community Health, Inc., the nonprofit organization behind The ManKave®.