The Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP), founded by Dr. Clive O. Callender, is the first national organization designed to educate minority communities on facts about organ/tissue donation and transplantation. Since June 1993, National MOTTEP has been working to solve the no. 1 problem in transplantation - the shortage of organ/tissue donors. National MOTTEP expanded from three sites in 1993 to 15 sites in 1995 across the country. Michigan's MOTTEP, based in Detroit, was launched in 1995 and serves the African-American, Native-American, Hispanic/Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander populations.

• 100,300 patients nationally are currently on transplant waiting list, more than 3,000 of them reside in Michigan
• 50 percent of patients waiting for transplants are of an ethnic minority
• Of the nearly 2,600 patients awaiting kidney transplants in Michigan, 41 percent are African-American
• 25 percent of the available donor pool represents minority donors

This issue is extremely important in the minority community because the minority populations in general, and African Americans in particular are disproportionately affected by diseases that can lead to organ failure i.e. diabetes, hypertension, obesity/poor nutrition, and drug and alcohol abuse. Minorities do DONATE, however the organ need and the donation rate are disproportionate.

Gift of Life MOTTEP uses a community-based approach with ethnically similar messengers to dispel the myths and misconceptions that prevent people from talking to their families about donating the Gift of Life.

For more information visit http://www.giftoflifemichigan.org/understanding_donation/multicultural_perspectives/.