August is National Breastfeeding Month! At HealthConnect One, we believe in supporting equitable breastfeeding and lactation assistance nationwide, promoting an inclusive environment for all families to thrive.
Date: August 30th | Time: 2:00 PM EST | ZOOM Webinar
HealthConnect One along with its FFE partners including the Hmong Breastfeeding Coalition, Alimentación Segura Infantil (ASI), Wichita Black Breastfeeding Coalition, and the African American Breastfeeding Network, commemorated National Breastfeeding Month with a panel discussion. The focus of the discussion was on the impact of the First Food Equity (FFE) project in fostering community connections through breastfeeding and lactation support. Click here to learn more about the First Food Equity Project!
Please click below to watch the recording of the National Breastfeeding Month webinar:
Panelists
Dalvery Blackwell | African American Breastfeeding Network
Dalvery Blackwell is Executive Director and a co-founder of the African American Breastfeeding Network (AABN). She is a Certified Lactation Consultant and holds a bachelor in Journalism/Communications.
The AABN was established 15 years improve maternal child health and champion breastfeeding equity. The organization is committed to advancing system and policy changes, partnering with allies and implementing community-based, family-centered culturally tailored health education and support services.
Through Dalvery’s leadership and vision, AABN has built eminent goodwill in the community, and has been has been recognized and featured in local, state, and national media and reports.
Joyea Marshall-Crowley | Wichita Black Breastfeeding Coalition
Joyea Marshall-Crowley is the Program Coordinator for the KBC “Protect Yourself, Protect Your Baby” COVID vaccination program. She is a certified breastfeeding specialist (CBS) and breastfeeding coalition coordinator for the Wichita Black Breastfeeding Coalition. Her goal is to make breastfeeding normal and empower women at all stages of their journey. Her passion for breastfeeding began with her journey. As a first-generation black breastfeeding mom, she realized how difficult it was to get proper support and education in her community. Since then, her passion has shined through by being an advocate and educator for women of color to reach their own breastfeeding goals and provide the support they need.
Lourdes Santaballa | Alimentación Segura Infantil (ASI)
Activist and community organizer, peer counselor, mentor, researcher, and trainer, having worked in the domestic violence, housing equity, and reproductive rights/infant feeding movements. She is the co-founder of Alimentación Segura Infantil, an intergenerational organization based in Puerto Rico focused on increasing breastfeeding, leadership and training, and gender equity in traditionally marginalized communities, with a focus on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery and against binary and colonialist backlash. ASI is the largest infant feeding NGO in Puerto Rico. This year, ASI launched its online training platform, creating unique lactation certifications and fulfilling the IBLCE blueprint for IBCLC candidates, differentiating itself from other Spanish language courses because of its focus on gender inclusion, racial justice, and community-centered care. An IBCLC with a master’s degree in clinical nutrition, she is considered a foremost expert in Puerto Rico and beyond on IYCF-E and the International Code on Marketing of Human Milk Substitutes and is the recipient of various international and national awards and recognition. You can listen to her weekly podcast in Spanish, Teta y Pecho: Lactancia Interseccional on all the major platforms.
Tiffany Yang | Hmong Breastfeeding Coalition
Tiffany Pao Yang, MPH, is a member of the Hmong Breastfeeding Coalition (HBC). She is a Hmong American woman, a breastfeeding mother, and lives with her little family in the Twin Cities.