Granny's Birth Initiative

Granny's Birth Initiative, INC is a pioneering perinatal health organization dedicated to addressing the national Black maternal and infant health crisis. Our mission focuses on serving birthing people who have experienced incarceration, homelessness, or foster care, with a strong emphasis on BIPOC communities.

Maternity Pantry: We operate a comprehensive Maternity Pantry that includes a 3-in-1 resource: an infant/maternal clothes closet, a Diaper Bank, and a Milk Bank. This vital resource is particularly important as we address the ongoing formula shortage and diaper disparities. Clients can visit the pantry monthly to select 10 infant care items, 5 maternal/paternal care items, 1 book, and 1 blanket. Our Maternity Pantry is sustained by our community through Granny’s Girls Birth Initiatives Monthly Maternity Donation Drive, which has been held every second Sunday of the month for the past two years. We seek funding to provide new essential items, such as car seats, pumps, cribs, bottles, and pacifiers, and to cover the cost of safe donor breast milk, which is $4.25 per ounce. Your support can help us offer this resource at no cost to our clients.

Doula Dash: Doula Dash is the first maternal transportation initiative designed to overcome transportation barriers to adequate and equitable maternal healthcare. This ride-share service is staffed by doulas or perinatal health professionals who provide transportation to and from prenatal, postpartum, newborn, and lactation support appointments. In Kentucky, which ranks #1 in maternal mortality, 91% of maternal deaths are declared preventable (Louisville Metro Health Department, 2022). Doula Dash ensures that birthing people receive the care they need and understand their appointments, as better education and fitness correlate with improved birth outcomes (CDC, 2018).

Doula Dash also offers transportation to childbirth education, maternal fitness, pelvic floor therapy, and yoni steaming sessions. Additionally, for those who have transportation but cannot bring other children to postpartum appointments—a common barrier that leads to missed care—we provide sibling support. Our goal is to eventually expand Doula Dash to include a postpartum meal train, recognizing the crucial role of nutrition in postpartum healing.

Doula Tech: Doula Tech is an innovative program working to expand the scope of practice of Doulas to directly combat the Black maternal Death rate in Kentucky. Our Doula Techs work as Community Health Workers to access a families needs and holistically address these needs to support all members of the family. Our Doula Techs also work to monitor vitals that can be sign of necessary early intervention during pregnancy and postpartum periods. This allows for our clients to be referred to the hospital immediately to receive necessary care that can them or their babies.

Granny’s Birth Initiative is committed to fighting the maternal health crisis holistically while addressing the specific disparities faced by Black and BIPOC birthing people. We are proud to include a certified medical interpreter/doula fluent in Spanish, who is working to create content in Spanish and serve our Latinx birth community. However, she is currently our only one.

Although both programs are young, they have already made a significant impact in Louisville, KY. Our goal is to improve birth outcomes across Kentucky, not just in Louisville. To do this, we need funding to expand our community maternal health promotion events, train more Latinx/Hispanic perinatal health professionals and Doula Dash drivers, and open additional Maternity Pantries in underserved counties across the Commonwealth.

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