LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — With just a few days left in Black History Month, hundreds of people gathered at the Venue at Westwind in North Little Rock for the 19th annual UAMS Midsouth Black Expo.
Leaders of the vent used the day to bring in different businesses and organizations to provide more help for the community.
100 vendor booths were set up Saturday all with one goal in mind.
"It's just a day of health, education and awareness," Co-Founder of the Expo Teresa Timmons said.
She said 19 years ago when this event started, she envisioned a day when organizations could come together.
"The attendance shows that we are beginning to under the importance of our health," Timmons said. "We are beginning to understand the importance of community and working together."
This year's theme is "Our Health, Our Wealth, Our Culture."
UAMS was there to focus on cancer screenings like prostate and colorectal.
"There are a lot of underserved populations throughout this state," Michael Birrer with UAMS said. "We need to provide both education and cancer prevention."
The state's largest hospital is working to understand how it can help those communities.
"I hope we leave with a better idea of the kinds of gaps and barriers we need to overcome to really help Arkansans," Birrer said.
One way Kenya Davenport, with Southern Bankcorp, is working to help Arkansans is by providing people with more access to financial resources.
"We're looking to target African Americans, particularly people of color who have traditionally been excluded from the financial industry," Davenport said.
She said areas south of Interstate 630 in Little Rock are considered bank deserts.
She's hoping to change that.
"We are looking to provide access to places that are banking deserts, places where other banks are leaving," Davenport said.
Each vendor hopes the hundreds of people who showed up Saturday left with an important piece of information that could improve their health and well-being.