Atlanta Healthy Start Initiative
Atlanta Healthy Start Initiative (AHSI) is a federally funded maternal and infant health program designed to support moms-to-be during pregnancy and throughout the critical postpartum period. Care is coordinated by a compassionate team of nurses, family support specialists and a mental health provider. Home-based education is guided by a nationally recognized curriculum, with topics ranging from infant care to breastfeeding. This Initiative serves approximately 700 pregnant and postpartum women, dads, and infants annually.
Case Management Services include:
- Home visitation services
- Linkages to needed health and social services (ex. prenatal care provider, housing, workforce development)
- Parent education
- Health education
- Breastfeeding education and support (Magic Milk Mommies)
- Mental/emotional wellbeing services
- Monthly peer support groups (Sister Circle)
- Postpartum education
Eligibility Requirements: Pregnant and parenting women residing in Atlanta or Fulton County, GA with a child under 18 months old.
To enroll in AHSI, contact Watrina Watson at wwatson@cbww.org or 404-688-9202, ext. 121.
Fatherhood Initiative
CBWW’s Fatherhood Initiative is a father’s guide to prioritizing what’s most important. Our children are our future, so putting them and our families first is essential to our community’s growth and development. The program encourages fathers to adopt healthy and effective parenting techniques and work diligently to restore the families, homes, and communities of which they form an integral part. This is an effort to bring awareness to the virtues of fatherhood, support and empower fathers, and encourage stronger familial and community bonds.
Contact: Chris White | Fatherhood Consultant | (404) 965-4122 | chris@fatherm.org
Maternal Health Equity Research & Action
CBWW is a kindred partner of Black Mamas Matter Alliance, and engages in multiple local, state and national efforts to improve Black maternal health.
In addition, CBWW is the lead organization for a feasibility test on the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health Community Care Initiative (AIM CCI) in Atlanta. The Atlanta AIM-CCI pilot is a HRSA funded population-based approach to building cross-sectoral collaboration that addresses preventable maternal mortality among pregnant and postpartum women and birth givers outside of the hospital setting. This community-led effort seeks to create a more responsive, respectful, and high-quality maternity care system to ensure that all women have equitable care that addresses medical, behavioral health, and psychosocial needs. Key features of the AIM-CCI process include:
- Equity Framework
Every step of our process is built on an equity framework. It enables us to discover and address the systemic, structural, and racial inequities that are the root cause of negative maternal health outcomes. - Community Partnerships
We seek to build a culture and structure of maternal health care that ensures birthing persons receive equitable treatment based on their holistic needs through cross-sectoral collaboration to address preventable maternal mortality. - Non-hospital Focused Maternal Safety Bundles
A non-hospital focused maternal safety bundle is a set of evidence-based practices which when implemented collectively and reliably, improve outcomes, and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. - Local Maternal Safety Workgroups
Within each pilot site, the local maternity safety workgroup comprises all community prenatal and postpartum providers and stakeholders. The community collaborative meets to share ideas and experiences to support one another in implementing the maternal safety bundles. - Data-Driven Practices
A community MCH data disparity dashboard promotes community awareness of mother-infant disparities, promotes population health accountability, and drives continuous quality improvement in the maternal safety bundles and the implementation process.
To get involved, contact Asha Immanuelle at AImmanuelle@cbww.org.
Community Action Network
Partnerships are vital to help create the change we want to see. Our Community Action Network (CAN) is a group of multi-sector partners and participants who commit themselves to improving perinatal birth outcomes through service linkages, information sharing, and systems change.
The CAN meets monthly. CAN members include state and local government agencies such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV), Title V, and Women’s Health; as well as universities, medical schools, providers, maternal and child health agencies, fatherhood agencies, school districts, care management organizations, child welfare agencies, coalitions, healthy start programs, community health centers, hospitals, family service agencies, behavioral health agencies and small businesses.
To get involved in the CAN, contact Mary Pruitt at MPruitt@cbww.org.
Doula Services
Racial Equity Learning Series
https://www.aimcci.org/nhsa-aim-cci-racial-equity-learning-series-rels/
Find your Legislators
http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/
Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA)
CDC Hear Hear Campaign
https://www.cdc.gov/hearher/index.html
Black Birthing Bill of Rights
2022 Black Maternal Health Week (#BMHW22) National Call
1.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). National Center for Health Statistics. Cesarean Delivery Rate by State Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/cesarean_births/cesareans.htm.
2.Georgia Department of Public Health (2021). Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet. Data from 2015- 2017. Retrieved from: https://dph.georgia.gov/maternal-mortality
3.Centers for Disease Control (2022). Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System (PMSS) 2014- 2017. Retrieved from:https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/pregnancy- mortality-surveillance-system.html
