On Monday, June 27, Cleveland City Council met for a Caucus Meeting that lasted about three and a half hours to discuss two agenda items related to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that are in the city’s coffers. Because the meeting was a Caucus Meeting, no legislation was formally introduced; rather, the meeting...
While Juneteenth has been recognized over the last two centuries as Black Independence Day—a celebration commemorating the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans—it also serves as a cruel reminder of how long our country has to go before overcoming entrenched systemic racism. It is widely accepted that the first kidnapped Africans to reach European colonies in...
By: Hope A. Lane-Gavin, Fellow, Health Equity, The Center for Community Solutions Katherine Ungar, Policy Associate, Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio In our first blog of this series highlighting our research into the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and how it operates in Ohio, we outlined many of the program’s...
By: Hope A. Lane-Gavin, Fellow, Health Equity, The Center for Community Solutions Katherine Ungar, Policy Associate, Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio With increased national attention and resources directed to the maternal and infant health crisis in our country, that is, women in the United States remaining the most likely to die from complications related to...
Natasha Takyi-Micah has been accepted into the in Families USA’s 2021 Health Equity Academy, where she will be focusing on maternal and child health issues. The second annual National Maternal Health Innovation Symposium was hosted by the Maternal Health Learning and Innovation Center (MHLIC) August 30-31, 2021. This free symposium focused on understanding maternal health disparities,...
By: Nazleen Bharmal, MD, PhD, MPP Dear Mayor, Protecting infants and mothers from tragic and unnecessary deaths is a pressing issue. Infant and maternal mortality are critical indicators of the physical and financial health of a community. In Cleveland, we have made strides to achieve a 37 percent reduction in the overall number of infant deaths...
By: Jazmin Long Dear Mayor: I am writing to promote awareness of the seriousness of infant mortality (deaths of children before they reach their first birthdays) in Cleveland. Infant mortality is an indicator used to assess the health and wellbeing of a community, a state or a nation. As the president & CEO of Birthing Beautiful...
The United States experiences unprecedentedly high rates of maternal deaths. In a study that compares the United States to 10 other developed countries, women in the United States had the highest ratio of maternal deaths. For example, there were 17.7 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in the United States compared to 1.7 maternal deaths...
For the past several years, Community Solutions has raised awareness of poor maternal and infant health outcomes by advocating for policy changes that would increase the availability of data; eliminate racism, discrimination and prejudice in the health care system; and to increase insurance access for low-income mothers. Recently, however, we have identified that for favorable...
