MIBFN is committed to ensuring that justice and equity are at the center of everything we do. This is the only way forward. We are, as every group of human milk supporters should be, committed to centering the people who are marginalized by dominant culture. To that end, we are working to dismantle systems of oppression where they exist and replacing these systems with ones that result in equity in outcomes.
Our mission-driven efforts are aligned with this commitment in that:
- Our community-building efforts are grounded in relationships and our commitment to listening, trusting, and investing in the people and organizations who are leading from within the communities they serve. Visit mibreastfeeding.org/coalition to learn more.
- Our advocacy efforts are grounded in amplifying the voices of and meeting the needs articulated by families and lactation supporters who are most marginalized by our current systems and, therefore, have expertise in how these systems must change. Visit mibreastfeeding.org/advocacy to learn more.
- Each of the educational offerings we provide and utilize is in the advancement of our commitment to change the paradigm of human milk feeding leadership by leveraging our platforms to amplify the voices, expertise, and experiences of the people who reflect and represent the communities they serve. Visit mibreastfeeding.org/education to learn more.
We operationalize this commitment through:
- Our working core values of Respect, Diversity, Listening, Learning, Planning, Transparency, and Community Building. Each of the people who make up the MIBFN team – board members, staff members, and contractual partners – embodies these values and is committed to bringing them to each aspect of our efforts. To learn more, visit mibreastfeeding.org/about and mibreastfeeding.org/team.
- Our definition of racial equity, initially co-created with the GLBW Power Panel and implemented for the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars: Human milk is recognized as essential to improving infant and maternal health. Unfortunately racial disparities exist in lactation experiences, across the duration of reproductive years (and beyond).
Racial equity in lactation is ensuring that Black, Indigenous, and other Families of Color live in communities with supportive policies and equitable access to lactation support that prevent and eliminate unjust differences in outcomes. When it is achieved, it recognizes and addresses systemic disparities and barriers that Black, Indigenous, and other Families of Color face in accessing support, policies, resources, and positive outcomes. Achieving racial equity in breastfeeding involves understanding and disrupting underlying factors that contribute to disparities. Current barriers include – but are not limited to – lack of compensated lactation support, lack of state and federal policy to support breastfeeding outcomes, bias and lack of cultural representation in the health care and public health systems, predatory human milk substitutes/formula marketing practices, and colonialistic norms that disproportionately harm Black and Indigenous families.
Feel free to browse our website and reach out to hello@mibreastfeeding.org to learn more.
To learn more about the foundations of these efforts, visit www.mibreastfeeding.org/dei.