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Nourish & Thrive
Nourish & Thrive is an equity focused nonprofit dedicated to minimizing barriers that contribute to the low percentages of Black birthing people successfully or continually breastfeeding. Our mission is to change the narrative surrounding lactation in the Black community by; providing access to lactation support and education, supporting increased representation for Black people by addressing systemic barriers to promote inclusivity in the field of lactation support, and normalizing/destigmatizing breastfeeding in the Black community by increasing positive imagery using a variety of outlets.
Growing up I never saw anyone that looked like me breastfeeding. My mother didn't breastfeed myself or my three siblings. In spite of the lack of representation I always knew that I wanted to breastfeed my children one day, and would secretly sneak and breastfeed my baby dolls as a young girl. At 23 years old I was a first time mother and after giving birth to my baby boy I instinctively knew that I would breastfeed my baby. I had no one to look to, and faced a lot of negative feedback from family, friends, coworkers, and strangers alike. The one thing they had in common was that we shared the same culture. I figured it out and managed to breastfeed for 18 months. By the time that I gave birth to my second child, my family had become immune to my public display of breastfeeding. They would even send younger families with newborns to me for breastfeeding advice. I realized that by choosing to continue to breastfeed, I had normalized breastfeeding for my own family and friends. I recognized that I could not be the only person to have a negative experience within my community. I knew that more needed to be done to help change the narrative surrounding human lactation in the Black community, especially considering the dire Black maternal health crisis that is ongoing in the US. In 2021 I founded Nourish & Thrive to help eliminate barriers for Black breastfeeding individuals and lactation care providers.
Programs
Lactation Support Services
Nourish & Thrive aims to minimize barriers to lactation in the Black community by increasing access to qualified lactation support by paying for parents financial obligation to a lactation provider of their choosing. We also provide prenatal breastfeeding education classes, as well as creating how to breastfeeding videos for social media.
Nu Narrative Program
Nourish & Thrives Nu Narrative program seeks to change the narrative surrounding lactation in the Black community. Creating a program to focus on social media ad campaigns and influencing public opinion through various media channels including a quarterly digital magazine and documentary to tell the stories of Black lactating families.
Culturally Congruent Care Grants & Scholarships
Receiving culturally congruent care is crucial to seeing success rates improve in lactation. Black IBCLC's make up only 2-10% of the certification. Nourish & Thrive aims to aid in increasing representation among all lactation professions by providing grants and scholarship to Black people pursuing lactation credentials. We also aim to help prospective IBCLC's navigate the career pathway by hosting webinars and providing opportunities to receive free CERP's.