September 28, 2023

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.”