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Maternal & Child Health 

Healthy Mommy, Healthy Baby, Healthy Families

Partnerships for Community Wellness has a deep history of supporting chronic disease prevention and maternal health strategies through initiatives such as the SI Child Wellness Initiative and our more recent Birth Justice Defenders project. We understand the connection between maternal and child health is a deeply intertwined and continuous cycle, where the well-being of a mother directly and profoundly impacts the health and development of her child, both before and after birth.

The Staten Island Child Wellness Initiative (SI CWI) seeks to improve child health and wellness by increasing opportunities for active living; availability and affordability of fresh, healthy food; and community-wide partnerships that shape a child’s home, school, recreational, and healthcare environment. CWI works collaboratively across multiple sectors to raise awareness and achieve its vision by focusing on schools, healthcare systems, and the community environment.
The Birth Justice Defenders (BJD) Initiative is part of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's (DOHMH) efforts to address disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes across NYC. The BJD initiative aims to center the voice of birthing people and empower them to advocate for respectful maternal care. BJDs are community members who are passionate about birth justice and seek to educate their community about and advocate for the rights of individuals to just, respectful, and dignified care during, birthing, and postpartum.

The Issue

  • Staten Island has the highest rate of pregnancy-related deaths of all 5 boroughs
  • More than half (53%) of pregnancy-related deaths happen up to 1 year after delivery, however, over 80% of these deaths are preventable
  • Leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths include behavioral health issues and cardiovascular issues

Strategies

  • Educate families about the conditions impacting pregnancy and birthing individuals’ rights
  • Ensure children and families have a healthy social and built environment to grow up in
  • Ensure children and families have access to fresh and healthy foods
  • Promote childhood vaccinations
  • Connect families to resources in the community

Impact

  • Engaged 1000+ families through tabling at events to raise awareness on maternal health issues and birthing rights
  • Trained 20+ community members with the skills and knowledge of birthing rights
  • Increased awareness of using public benefits to access home grocery delivery for 1,500 individuals

Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0919-pregnancy-related-deaths.html
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/ms/pregnancy-associated-mortality-report-2016-2020.pdf

Get Help

There are many resource in the Staten Island community for social and medical services. 

The Staten Island Alliance for North Shore Children & Families’ Resource Hub is a centralized place to look for services for maternal and infant care, school and summer camp programs, as well as behavioral health services on the island.

The Staten Island Hunger Task Force provides a list of pantries across the island.

Staten Island Hunger Task Force:


https://www.hungryonstatenisland.com/
  • List of pantries: https://www.hungryonstatenisland.com/pantries.htm

North Shore Alliance for Children & Families:


https://statenislandalliance.com/
  • Resource Hub: https://statenislandalliance.com/resources/resource-hub/

Take Action

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Use Your Snap Benefits

The CWI poster campaign promotes the use of SNAP Benefits to access home grocery delivery services

Don't Bottle it Up!

TYSA’s Don’t Bottle It Up campaign is designed to raise awareness, share important public health statistics, and provide tools to parents that help them have conversations with their teens about alcohol.

Weed Out the Facts

TYSA’s Weed Out the Facts campaign is designed to raise awareness, share important public health statistics, and provide tools to parents that help them have conversations with their teens about cannabis.

Partnerships for Community Wellness is a public health nonprofit dedicated to serving Staten Island and beyond. We focus on behavioral health, maternal and child health, and emerging public health issues.

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