Tag: reproductive justice

Posted on

African American Breastfeeding Network (AABN) is outside and celebrating connection and community

Photo by Criativa Pix Fotografia

For 15 years, the African American Breastfeeding Network (AABN) has been leading and immersed in integral work to improve maternal child health outcomes in the Greater Milwaukee area.

AABN was founded by Angelia Wilks-Tate and Dalvery Blackwell who set out to  address breastfeeding disparities through a community-led organization. Blackwell now serves as the organization’s first executive director and Wilks-Tate serves as the President of the Board Directors.

Photo by julio andres rosario ortiz

AABN hosts healing spaces for birth workers, facilitates doula trainings including the HealthConnect One community doula training and WeRISE Community Doula Program, celebrates father involvement, holds space for bereaved parents, fights for birth and reproductive justice, and more and more and more. Simply visit their Facebook page and you’ll catch a glimpse of the passion, the wisdom, comradery, fun, and the dedication. You can also read about their 2020 impact here.

Yesterday, the organization and its partners hosted their ninth annual  Lift Up Every Baby! Celebration.  Lift Up Every Baby “is all about the blissful happiness we experience when our community comes together to celebrate, securing our collective power to help create spaces of health and wellness!” the organization shared with their social media followers. Pregnant people and young families were invited to experience a community-drive and  “family-centered afternoon of festivities, celebrations, good food and positive vibes.”

The event fit perfectly into Black Breastfeeding Week’s (BBW) 2023 theme: We Outside! Celebrating Connection & Our Communities.

https://blackbreastfeedingweek.org/

Perhaps one of the most touching moments of each year’s event is the opening ceremony made possible by Zakiya Courtney celebrating participants’ cultural heritage and values.

You can check out footage from last year’s event here and stay tuned for reports from this year’s celebration here.

Posted on

It’s Black Maternal Health Week: “Building for Liberation: Centering Black Mamas, Black Families and Black Systems of Care”

April is National Poetry Month. “[It] reminds the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters,” says the Academy of American Poets.  In a beautiful convergence, this week is also Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW) nestled intentionally within National Minority Health Month. 

Written decades ago on a different continent,  Poem for South African Women by June Jordan resonates today with the message of fighting systemic racism. 

“We are the ones we have been waiting for,” Jordan penned.

It embodies the #BMHW22 theme, “Building for Liberation: Centering Black Mamas, Black Families and Black Systems of Care”. The theme reflects founding and leading organization Black Mamas Matter Alliance’s (BMMA) work in centering Black women’s scholarship, maternity care work, and advocacy across the full-spectrum of sexual, maternal, and reproductive health care, services, programs, and initiatives. 

The BMHW22 campaign is a week of awareness, activism, and community building intended to:

  • Deepen the national conversation about Black maternal health in the US;
  • Amplify community-driven policy, research, and care solutions;
  • Center the voices of Black Mamas, women, families, and stakeholders;
  • Provide a national platform for Black-led entities and efforts on maternal health, birth and reproductive justice; and
  • Enhance community organizing on Black maternal health.  [https://blackmamasmatter.org/bmhw/]

You can watch BMMA’s National Call surrounding the fifth-year anniversary of BMHW here which highlights all of the major activities happening online and across the nation in celebration of Black mothers and their families. On April 17, individuals have the opportunity to get to know the organizations that make up BMMA, Black-led organizations that are doing the work and making a difference for BIPOC families. Of those organizations is reproductive justice organization Restoring Our Own Through Transformation (ROOTT). ROOTT’s Jessica Roach’s TEDx talk is just one example that encapsulates both the maternal infant health crisis we find ourselves in and the triumphs that are to be elevated.  

Proudly powered by WordPress