The Aligned Activities Fund recently awarded nearly $475,000 to five nonprofit organizations in St. Louis for work that supports the health of Black moms, babies and families. These organizations included Parents as Teachers, Affinia Healthcare, St. Louis Integrated Health Network, Nurses for Newborns and United 4 Children.
The Aligned Activities Fund is a grant offered by FLOURISH that supports new and existing projects that address equitable outcomes for Black families in St. Louis through coordinating quality care, safe sleep, housing and transportation. Individuals within affected communities reviewed the applications and identified which organizations were most suitable for this grant. “Our community-led review committee is excited to fund projects that support the health of Black moms, babies and families in St. Louis city and county,” said Brian Washington, manager of planning and partnerships at Generate Health.
The review committee selected the following organizations to receive funding:
Parents as Teachers provides resources and tools to assist first-time parents in meeting the needs of their children during the early stages of development. With their award, the organization will develop “Promoting Infant Vitality: All Babies Deserve to Have A First Birthday,” which will provide educational and safe-sleep supplies to over 100 Black pregnant women and mothers residing in maternity shelters in the St. Louis area.
Affinia Healthcare provides primary and preventative health services to primarily Black communities in need. With the funding the organization will support “Improved Birth Outcomes Plus,” a program focusing on improving birth outcomes and immunization rates. This program will also support training for community health workers to support prenatal patients.
St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN) addresses racial disparities in St. Louis by listening to those affected and providing equitable resources. IHN received funding for “EleVATE: Elevating Voices, Addressing Trauma, Toxic Stress and Equity in Group Prenatal Care.” This initiative addresses and fulfills the needs of affected families and funding will be used to establish a prenatal care group for Black moms.
Nurses for Newborns provides a sense of safety to at-risk communities to prevent infant mortality, child abuse and neglect. Nurses for Newborns funding will go toward its initiative, “Safe and Secure,” which will promote safe sleep practices through home visits to Black families in North St. Louis zip codes where infant mortality is worst.
United 4 Children offers reliable child care services in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Through its funding the association will support “Safe Sleep Training,” a program which provides Black families and child care providers with the knowledge, resources and equipment to understand the safe-sleeping guidelines under the standard of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Are you a St. Louis organization that works to improve conditions for Black families in St. Louis? Visit our Aligned Activities Funding page to find out if you are eligible to apply for the next round of funding.