News - Black Infants and Families Los Angeles

World Doula Week Celebrates Professional Birth Companions

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on March 26, 2025

Doulas Increase Breastfeeding Success and Help Reduce Medical Interventions, including C-Sections

To celebrate World Doula Week, March 22-28, we honor the dedicated professional Doulas in our community.

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AAIMM Coalition Strengthening Partner RFP Release - Proposals Due May 21st, 2025

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on March 14, 2025

The African American Infant and Maternal Mortality (AAIMM) Prevention Initiative is excited to announce the release of a request for proposals for a newly identified AAIMM Coalition Strengthening Partner (CSP). The AAIMM Management Team and Steering Committee have recognized the need for the initiative to evolve into a more sustainable and equitable collaboration that reflects stakeholder diversity. To embody its guiding principles, the structure of the Management Team will be enhanced.

This RFP invites proposals from organizations interested in becoming the AAIMM CSP, which will join the Department of Public Health and First 5 LA on the Management Team. The CSP will act as a strategic convenor and administrator to improve operational effectiveness and enhance the initiative’s collective impact.

This is a grant-funded opportunity with two phases of work, subject to available funding. The selected CSP will receive $350,000 over 12 months for Phase 1. Phase 1 may be extended based on external factors impacting its scope. Continuation to Phase 2 will depend on performance and funding availability.

Interested applicants should carefully review the RFP LINKED HERE - Proposals are due Wednesday, May 21st, at 3 p.m. PT

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HIRING! Applications for Senior Staff Health Analyst - OPEN WEDNESDAY

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on February 10, 2025

Senior Staff Analyst w/ LA County DPH exam opens on Wednesday, 2/12/25 at 11 a.m. and closes sharply at 4:59 p.m.

Open Competitive Job Opportunity - We welcome applications from anyone.

FIRST DATE OF FILING:

Applications will be accepted on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. (PT) to 4:59 p.m. (PT).

Applications received after 4:59 p.m. (PT) will not be considered.

No Out-of-Class Experience will be accepted.

DEFINITION:

Supervises a team of analysts providing technical and consultative service to management in major health service areas.

CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS:

Positions allocable to this class are restricted to Department of Health Services administration and are distinguished by

their responsibility for supervising professional employees in the research, analysis, and preparation of recommendationsregarding the use and deployment of resources and the implementation and improvement of operations and programs

having department-wide impact.

Essential Job Functions:

- Plans, organizes, assigns, and coordinates the work of a staff of analysts serving as technical experts and consultants to management in major health service areas.

- Has immediate responsibility for the orientation, training, development, and evaluation of employees supervised.

- Reviews work for thoroughness, soundness of recommendations, and compliance with applicable standards, policies, procedures and regulations.

- Confers with administrators and with representatives of other jurisdictions and agencies to discuss new and ongoing programs and to exchange information.

- Supervises and participates in studies of complex and difficult problem areas.

- Supervises and participates in the implementation of recommended procedures and programs.

Senior Staff Analyst, Health

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Request for Proposals for Backbone Support for the South LA/South Bay AAIMM Community Action Team - Deadline March 3, 2025

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on February 10, 2025

The South Los Angeles/South Bay African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Community Action Team (SLA/SB AAIMM CAT) was founded in 2018 with the purpose of bringing community and local government together for collaboration in reducing Black/African American infant and maternal mortality rates in Los Angeles County by addressing underlying determinants such as racism, lack of equitable and quality treatment, and supportive and informed resources and education. Additionally, the SLASB AAIMM CAT's mission is to create, establish, and implement a partnership that brings together mothers, fathers, grandparents, community-based, faith-based, and grassroots groups, community members, and designated individuals from County health departments, such as the Department of Health Services, Department of Public Health, and Department of Mental Health, to devise and implement solutions that aid in the improvement of pregnancy and birthing outcomes for Black mothers/birthing persons and their infants.

SLASB AAIMM CAT is comprised of:

• A Planning Team: comprised of those with lived experience, Workgroup co-chairs, SLASB AAIMM CAT Leadership Team members, community-based organization partners, community members and some County agencies (DPH, DMH and DHS partners) etc. who advise and participate in CAT specific activities that include but are not limited to bi-weekly planning team meetings, bi-monthly AAIMM CAT meetings, workgroup meetings, event planning, strategic planning, and programmatic related task.

• A Leadership Team: comprised of Service Planning Area(s) 6 and 8 DPH Co-leads, MCAH AAIMM Outreach & Engagement Director, Community Co-lead and Perinatal Equity Initiative (PEI) Program Manager who advise on CAT specific activities and funding matters.

• Four Workgroups:

o Community Outreach & Engagement

o Family Centered Models of Care

o Integrative Community Solutions

o Funder’s Circle

Backbone Support: provides administrative, operational, and logistical support working with the SLASB AAIMM CAT Leadership, Planning Team and all CAT members to collectively advance goals and objectives.

Please see additional details of purpose and work needs/requirements throughout this document.

View the Request for Proposals for Backbone Support for the South LA/South Bay AAIMM Community Action Team - Deadline March 3, 2025

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NEW - LA County Department of Public Health's Grant Opportunities Webpage

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on January 16, 2025

Dear AAIMM Network:

The LA County Department of Public Health has introduced a NEW website, highlighting grant opportunities that may be a good fit for your organization.

Click the button below to visit the
LA County Department of Public Health’s website.

*The webpage will be continuously updated, so please bookmark it and check back often.

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Project Hope - Now Accepting Applications for Homeless Pregnant & Parenting Families

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on December 11, 2024

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VILLAGE FUND APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN! AAPLY BY NOVEMBER 4th

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on October 08, 2024

The fifth round of grant applications to the AAIMM Village Fund is now open!. In the spirit of “it takes a village to raise a child,” the Village Fund seeks applications from organizations, networks, coalitions, individual service providers, enterprises or small businesses whose services will contribute to joyous and healthy births for Black families in Los Angeles County. Priority consideration will be given to entities that are Black-led.

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Making Room for Dads: Meet the South Los Angeles Communities Advocating for Healthy and Joyous Black Births

by
on September 24, 2024

Ruel Nolledo | Freelance Writer

September 28, 2023

Building the Village is a special 4-part series focusing on the work taking place in neighborhoods throughout L.A. County to combat the disproportionately high rates of Black maternal and infant deaths and ensure that all Black families experience joyous and healthy births. Created and supported by L.A. County’s AAIMM Prevention Initiative, local partnerships known as Community Action Teams (CATs) are bringing everyone together to raise awareness of the crisis and identify the solutions that work best for their community. In addition to the L.A. Department of Public Health, each CAT includes local residents (including mothers/birthing persons and dads/partners), community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, health care providers and plans/networks, birth workers such as doulas and midwives, First 5 LA, the L.A. County Department of Mental Health, local businesses, and other allies.

[This is the second story in the series. Click here for part one.]

It’s a hot, blue-bright Saturday morning in June, the kind that promises summer is just around the corner. Even though it’s early, the pedestrian plaza at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Public Health in South Los Angeles is buzzing with activity. Volunteers are hustling to set up resource tables and banners. Off to the side, someone is carefully wheeling a delicate-looking machine through the wide glass doors of a screening room. And next to a pillar of balloons — black, yellow, green and red — a barber is setting up his station.

The focus of these preparations is the second Juneteenth Father’s Day Celebration, a full-day event highlighting the crucial role fathers play in promoting healthy birth outcomes for Black mothers and infants. Part community baby shower, part resource fair, the event offers expecting parents the chance to chat with doulas and prenatal experts, pick up free resources — like backpacks customized for diaper changing — and even catch a glimpse of their unborn babies in real-time, courtesy of a free 4D ultrasound screening.

Keeping everything in motion at the event is Adjoa Jones, the community outreach and engagement director for the AAIMM Prevention Initiative. Decked in a t-shirt emblazoned with the words “EMPOWER-ENGAGE-ACKNOWLEDGE BLACK FATHERS,” she greets everyone warmly, even as she gently coaxes them to gather toward the front of the plaza.

“This event is for you,” she tells those gathered. “We want you to know that this is done with our love and real integrity. We are committed to keeping our foot on the pedal. We are committed to keeping our foot on the gas.”

“Because we can’t give up,” she continues, her voice full of emotion. “We have to be the people who are out here to protect, support and believe Black women. We have to be the people that make sure that Black women survive the pregnancy and childbirth journey.”

The event is the brainchild of the South Los Angeles/South Bay Community Action Team (SLASB CAT), a collaborative partnership dedicated to addressing African American/Black infant and maternal mortality in the South Los Angeles/South Bay community. Like other AAIMM CATs operating in L.A. County, SLASB’s work is rooted in a pivotal truth: That racism is a root cause of maternal and infant disparities — not just in specific instances but in terms of how the cumulative effects of pervasive and persistent racism produce toxic stress that damages and weakens a mother’s physical and mental health and that of her child.

Comprised of local community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, health care providers, community residents and local businesses, SLASB has been at the forefront of work. In August 2020, the team launched a Black Breastfeeding Week public awareness campaign that was later adopted countywide. In keeping with AAIMM’s “Activate Your Village” theme, SLASB has also been carving out intentional spaces such as their monthly VirtualiTEA, an online space where expecting and future mothers, dads, partners and supporting families can learn and share their experiences.

More recently, the goal of carving out safe and supportive spaces has grown to meet the needs of a vital but often-ignored member of the Village: the fathers. Research shows that the active engagement of fathers during pregnancy results in improved health outcomes for both mother and child. Yet Black fathers, in particular, continue to encounter various challenges, from social mores that affect how fathers are treated and perceived in the context of the pregnancy experience to policies that limit paternal benefits in the workplace.

To counter these challenges, SLASB has been working with AAIMM countywide to create dedicated spaces and resources for Black fathers. For Jones, this is a crucial undertaking — and a profoundly personal one.

“Having this relationship with my dad and four siblings, it was important for me to see Black men get involved in this,” Jones explains. “To make sure they had the knowledge and awareness, and that they were engaged in the reproductive process… Making sure they have in mind the risks associated with pregnancy is important.”

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Antelope Valley AAIMM CAT: Antelope Valley Gets New Maternity Home for Black Mom

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on September 24, 2024

Christina Hoag | Freelance Writer

March 28, 2023

With Antelope Valley sprawling over northern Los Angeles County’s vast desert region, social services can be spread out and hard to access. But come this April, Black moms and birthing parents will have a one-stop shop for health and wellness at the new Antelope Valley Maternity Home in Lancaster.

To reduce poor birth outcomes in the area’s Black population and ensure birth is a safe, healthy and joyous experience, the Antelope Valley Maternity Home will provide wraparound services to Black expecting and new parents in the region. According to L.A. County’s Department of Public Health, Antelope Valley has one of the county’s highest Black infant and maternal mortality rates. And across the United States, Black mothers and newborns fare worst of all racial groups when it comes to birthing outcomes.

In a 2022 study, the National Bureau of Economic Research examined approximately 2 million birth records in California to better understand economic inequality in infant and maternal health. What researchers found was that racial disparities in infant and maternal mortality rates were linked to structural racism, not socioeconomic status. According to the study, maternal mortality rates among low-income white women were lower, at 350 per 1,000 live births, than that of high-income Black women, at 457 per 1,000 live births. Babies born to Black mothers were more likely to be premature or underweight.

These facts illustrate how race significantly affects the quality of care and intervention and underscores the need for centers like the Antelope Valley Maternity Home that are tailored to supporting Black birthing people as a critical component of reducing this disparity.

“This is really groundbreaking,” said TaVia Wooley-Iles, executive director of the EmpowerTHEM Collective, a health advocacy nonprofit and a key force behind the center. “The African American community here is small, but we are sending a loud message that the community is supported in the Antelope Valley.”

After years of planning, the project launched last September under the leadership of Charles Drew University’s Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence in partnership with the Antelope Valley Community Action Team of the Los Angeles County African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative (AAIMM). Dedicated to addressing the disproportionately high rates of Black infant and maternal deaths and ensuring healthy and joyous births for Black families in L.A. County, AAIMM is led by the L.A. Department of Public Health in partnership with First 5 LA. Other members include L.A. County’s Departments of Health Services and of Mental Health, community organizations, mental and health care providers, funders, and community members. 

“This is really groundbreaking. The African American community here is small, but we are sending a loud message that the community is supported in the Antelope Valley.” – TaVia Wooley-Iles, executive director of the EmpowerTHEM Collective

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San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valley AAIMM CAT: A Sisterhood for Saving Lives

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on September 24, 2024

By, Ruel Nolledo | Freelance Writer

September 17, 2024

How fostering connections in one of L.A.’s largest regions can help in the fight against Black infant and maternal mortality.

We got this. We got this. Whitney Shirley repeated the phrase over and over, like a mantra. Even as her contractions intensified, she managed to rise from her seat and make it to the podium. As the keynote presenter at the San Fernando & Santa Clarita Valleys Community Action Team (SFSCV CAT ) year-end gathering, she had come prepared with information that she knew the audience of Black moms would find useful.

But Shirley doesn’t remember much of what happened next.

“I blacked out for the entire speech,” she confesses ruefully. “I was in so much pain, I don’t remember a thing.”

The contractions had gotten worse as Shirley, then nine months pregnant, continued her presentation. When she suddenly stopped mid-speech, the CAT planning team knew something was wrong. After quickly calling for a break, they ushered her aside and asked if she wanted to stop her presentation. Her answer came quickly.

“No,” Shirley said. “There’s one more point I need to talk about on mama authority. Just put me back on for 10 more minutes.”

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