Doulas Play Integral Role in Black Maternal Health
A Doula from AAIMM Can Provide Helpful Prenatal Care, Support at Delivery, and Breastfeeding Education
From prenatal visits and support during labor to help with newborn feeding, doulas play a vital role in Black maternal health. Doula support may reduce medical interventions (including C-sections), improve mood and satisfaction with the birth experience, and increase breastfeeding success.
Read moreMidwifery in the Spotlight During National Public Health Week: AAIMM Hosts Powerful Town Halls on Advancing Black Maternal Health
LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA – In honor of National Public Health Week (April 7–13), the African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative (AAIMM) hosted two impactful town halls spotlighting the critical role of midwifery in improving perinatal health outcomes for Black families in Los Angeles County.
Held on April 8 and April 11, 2025, in partnership with Kindred Space LA, Charles Drew University’s Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence, Black Women for Wellness, and the California Black Women’s Health Project, these events brought together public health leaders, midwifery professionals, birth equity advocates, and community members for dynamic discussions on the state of midwifery care.
“Midwifery care is preventative care. The pregnant person is healthier because they have access to information and support,” said panelist Allegra Hill, LM, CPM, IBCLC, Co-Founder of Kindred Space LA. “Support and education have a positive outcome on the birth and postpartum experience and the health of the family moving forward.”
Read moreWorld Doula Week Celebrates Professional Birth Companions
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.
AAIMM Coalition Strengthening Partner RFP Release - Proposals Due May 21st, 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
Read moreHIRING! Applications for Senior Staff Health Analyst - OPEN WEDNESDAY
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.
Request for Proposals for Backbone Support for the South LA/South Bay AAIMM Community Action Team - Deadline March 3, 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.
NEW - LA County Department of Public Health's Grant Opportunities Webpage
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.
Read moreProject Hope - Now Accepting Applications for Homeless Pregnant & Parenting Families
VILLAGE FUND APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN! AAPLY BY NOVEMBER 4th
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.
Read moreMaking Room for Dads: Meet the South Los Angeles Communities Advocating for Healthy and Joyous Black Births
September 28, 2023
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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.”
