Reports
Annual Reports
We are thrilled to present to you the 2023 MIBFN Annual Report as we work to build a more just, equitable, and breastfeeding-supportive culture. As readers look through the pages, it is our hope that our passion for our mission-driven efforts shines through. This work would not be possible without the support and love from Michigan families, breastfeeding supporters, advocates, community partners, and funding partners who work alongside MIBFN to build new systems centered in equity and justice – thank you.
The 2022 MIBFN Annual Report is now available, and we’re so excited to share it with you. We take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to the MIBFN team, community collaborators, local breastfeeding supporters, and sponsoring partners who have worked tirelessly to make this work possible. Their commitment and advocacy for human milk feeding systemic change that centers equity and justice throughout Michigan have been truly inspiring, and we are deeply grateful for their efforts. Thanks for all you do and for continuing to drive these changes forward.
It is with immense gratitude we share that the MIBFN 2021 Annual Report is now available. This would not be possible without the dedication and love of the MIBFN team, community collaborators, local breastfeeding supporters, and sponsoring partners who care so deeply about breastfeeding families throughout Michigan. We are so grateful to you and thankful for all the heart you bring to these efforts!
Community Building Reports
Community Conversations to Advance Breastfeeding Justice in Kent County Report
The Community Conversations to Advance Breastfeeding Justice in Kent County Report is now available in collaboration with Strong Beginnings. Based on a vital discussion among Black expert families and professionals in Kent County, this report shares main themes about birth and breastfeeding experiences and recommendations to advance breastfeeding justice in Kent County. This work would not be possible without the generous time and expertise of families, facilitators, transcribers, and mental health professionals as well as the financial support from Corewell Health Grand Rapids – thank you.
YOLO No Mom Left Behind Clinic Model Report
The YOLO No Mom Left Behind Clinic Model Report is published. We are so grateful to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint/Foundation for Flint for this funding work, including the YOLO Clinic, fourth trimester care, skilled, culturally-relevant care, and supplies to support families, which made it possible to truly build a movement in big ways through the No Mom Left Behind Clinic Model. Thank you.
2023 Mi Milk Collective Organizational Spotlight
We are thrilled to share a 2023 Mi Milk Collective (MMC) Organizational Spotlight. MMC centers Black birth and breastfeeding to combat infant and maternal mortality and addresses a slate of structural inequities and indicators that lead to breastfeeding disparities. They are a statewide collaborative that includes, but is not limited to, Black-led community organizations, coalitions, hospital systems, birth workers, and lactation professionals. Each organization and/or person that forms part of the Mi Milk Collective is dedicated to supporting the people, organizations, and birth workers who are advancing equity and justice for Black families.
2022 Milk Like Mine Community Health Grant Report
We are excited to share the 2022 Milk Like Mine Community Health Grant Report. We are beyond grateful to the Binda Foundation for their continued support and belief in the vision that Black, Indigenous and families of Color in Battle Creek deserve equitable, skilled and timely access to quality birth and breastfeeding support that reflects their ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
2022 Milk Like Mine Operations Support Grant Report
The 2022 Milk Like Mine Operations Support Report is now released. This generous funding helped Milk Like Mine provide direct services to families in Calhoun County free of charge as well as develop sustainability strategies. We are incredibly grateful for the trust from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and this operational funding support. Their continued partnership and belief in birth and breastfeeding justice is seen and felt in not just the funds they contribute, but also in their actions. Thank you so much.
2022 Racial Equity in Breastfeeding and Immunizations Grant Report
We are proud to share the publication of the 2022 Racial Equity in Breastfeeding and Immunizations Grant Report in partnership with the Breastfeeding & Emergencies Working Group & CORE Cohort. This project worked to create and launch a social marketing campaign and education around breastfeeding and immunizations as well as provide mini-grants to birth and breastfeeding organizations who center Black and Indigenous families in their human milk feeding journeys, including addressing vaccine hesitancy, providing immunizations education, and referring to providers who administer the COVID-19 vaccine, as necessary. We are very grateful for the financial support from Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Human milk saves lives and your investment in this work and birth and breastfeeding supporters that center Black and Indigenous families is saving lives, too.
We are excited to share the 2022 Southeast Michigan IBCLCs of Color Connecting Families with Lactation and Mental Health Grant Report. Thank you to the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan for your generosity in supporting this project. Through your support, SEMI provided new and expanded services, including breastfeeding support consultations and a mental health support group, offered by Southeast Michigan IBCLCs of Color to ensure that families had access to culturally-relevant, skilled care during the ongoing pandemic. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We are honored to release the 2022 Southeast Michigan IBCLCs of Color Racial Equity in Breastfeeding and Immunizations Grant Report. With the generous support of United Way for Southeastern Michigan, SEMI’s work for this project focused on breastfeeding and immunizations, including creating educational materials, launching a social marketing campaign, facilitating a panel discussion, and conducting home visits with families. Thank you, UWSEM, for your investment in this work.
2022 Panoramic Doula NACCHO Blueprint Grant Report
We are so grateful to share the 2022 Panoramic Doula NACCHO Blueprint Grant Report in partnership with Panoramic Doula. Thank you to National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in their selection of Panoramic Doula for a FY22 Implementing the Continuity of Care (COC) Blueprint award. Through this award, Panoramic Doula was able to provide Indigenous family-centered care to families free of charge, educate other breastfeeding supporters through her Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars presentation, participate in a sexual assault/domestic violence training, and more. Thank you so much for your support.
Milk Like Mine UWBCKR Seedings Grant Report
The Milk Like Mine UWBCKR Seedings Grant Report is now available in solidarity with Milk Like Mine. This capacity to grow would not have been possible without the support of United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region. Through their generosity, Milk Like Mine has been able to operationalize their efforts to center families, grow their team and capacity to serve, and focus on sustainability.
Mi Milk Collective Community Conversation Report
In solidarity with Mi Milk Collective, the Mi Milk Collective Community Conversation Report is now available. This report was based on a crucial conversation amongst male expert participants to discuss their birth and breastfeeding experiences, including barriers and opportunities. We are so grateful to the expert families, facilitators, and transcribers for sharing time and space with us. This opportunity was made possible by a grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.
“Reviving the Village” YOLO Report
We are thankful to share the “Reviving the Village” YOLO Report in solidarity with YOLO Lactation and Doula Services. This partnership prioritized the education and training of Flint-based, Black lactation supporters to provide the families in their community with skilled, accessible, culturally relevant care, as a model created by a Black, female-led organization for sustainability through mentorship, career opportunities, and community-driven solutions. Thank you so much to the Flint Kids Fund and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint for your $75,000 grant in support of this work.
Milk Like Mine Racial Equity in Breastfeeding and Immunizations Grant Report
In solidarity with Milk Like Mine, we are proud to share the Milk Like Mine Racial Equity in Breastfeeding and Immunizations Grant Report. This project took place from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 with the goal of planning and implementing strategies that ensured greater equity and access to COVID-19 vaccine by Black and Indigenous families with young children who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. A special thank you to United Way of Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region for their $5,000 in support of this work.
Southeast Michigan IBCLCs of Color Racial Equity in Breastfeeding and Immunizations Report
We are so grateful to share the Southeast Michigan IBCLCs of Color Racial Equity in Breastfeeding and Immunizations Report. This project took place from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 with the goal of planning and implementing strategies that ensured greater equity and access to COVID-19 vaccine by Black and Indigenous families with young children who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. A special thank you to United Way for Southeastern Michigan for their $20,000 in support of this work.
#NoMomLeftBehind Fundraising Campaign Recap Report
Families in Flint still do not have access to clean water. Yet, many Flint families are still having to choose between providing human milk for their infants/young children and working to support their families. In spite of systemic barriers, community-based organizations like YOLO Breastfeeding are working within their community to integrate solutions to help support breastfeeding families amidst systems, like the workplace, that are not built for breastfeeding success. We worked alongside YOLO Breastfeeding on a fundraising campaign where the proceeds went to purchase breast pumps for working families in Flint. Thank you so much to everyone who donated.
We are grateful to share the FY 2021 CORE Cohort Report. The cohort is currently composed of 12 Black and Indigenous breastfeeding supporters and organizations who have chosen collaboration over competition. We were initially awarded mini-grants through MDHHS and Michigan Breastfeeding Network to advance our work, centering Black and Indigenous families in the reclamation and restoration of traditional birth and breast/bodyfeeding practices that have sustained our families for centuries. Our work is initially focused in the areas of COVID-19, young mothers and fathers, and child care. We work collaboratively in sisterhood (not cis-terhood) to network, incubate, take action, and achieve outcomes in solidarity with the families in our communities.
#InvestInDetroitBreastfeeding Report
Breastfeeding is medicine. SEMI’s members know this, and despite not receiving personal protective equipment (PPE), continued serving Detroit families. In the face of these dangers, we put together a peer-to-peer fundraiser to help get them the tools they needed to continue serving families in Detroit. We asked for your help to ensure that the families of Detroit could continue receiving lactation education, accessing lactation support, and providing human milk for their children during this emergency. SEMI needed PPE, sanitation items, lactation supplies, and monetary contributions to support lactation providers on the front line and ensure that they could continue to serve families in Metro Detroit. We are so thankful to all of the generous donors! Your investment in Detroit families during the COVID-19 pandemic is helping to save lives. Thank you so much for your contribution to the #InvestinDetroitBreastfeeding Fundraising Campaign. Thanks for all you do to support breastfeeding families!
MIBFN 310 Connect Flint Report
What an abundance of listening, learning and growing these past four years have been – the highs and the lows, and everything in between. It’s been a true honor for MIBFN, humbly leaning into the pivot during these challenging times, to work alongside so many powerful leaders in Flint. We are full of gratitude to share this report with you and have found ourselves filled with emotion in putting this together, finding only one word that seems fitting enough to describe it all: Resilience. We are humbled to have the opportunity to share the remarkable work that has and continues to occur with Flint families at the center and specifically Black families at its core. We are incredibly grateful to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint for their commitment, dedication, and trust. The continued investment into the work of Black-led, community-based organizations is seen, deeply appreciated and is shifting the paradigm of leadership.
MIBFN 310 Connect Calhoun County Report
It is with this gratitude that we share the 310 Connect Calhoun County report with you, in hopes that you may experience the deep sense of community that we have been so thankful to have learned from over the years, and for many years to come. This project began as a coalition of folx hoping to bring about awareness and change in several systems that impact breastfeeding families, which included maternity care, child care, normalization, and workplace. Data supports that most families want to breastfeed. However, due to systemic racism, oppression, and significant barriers to access, families oftentimes are unable to reach their individual breastfeeding goals. So, what began with ideation, and painting the town with clings, shifted to financially supporting Black women-led organizations doing birth and breastfeeding work in Battle Creek, who reflect the community that they serve, being equitably compensated to do what they do best – serve. The answers have always been in the community.
Advocacy Reports
Skilled Lactation Supporter Representation and Compensation Planning Meeting Report
MIBFN, in partnership with Panoramic Doula in Sault Ste. Marie, Postpartum Healing Lodge in Sault Ste. Marie, Southeast Michigan IBCLCs of Color in metro-Detroit, and YOLO Lactation and Doula Services in Flint, planned and held a statewide meeting to center Black and Indigenous families in determining a path forward towards securing representation and compensation for community-rooted, clinically-skilled lactation supporters.
The goals of the meeting were to listen and learn from lactation supporters around Michigan to ultimately:
- Grow and diversify the field of lactation so that Black and/or Indigenous families are served by people who reflect and represent them
- Equitably/adequately compensate community-rooted, clinically-skilled lactation supporters to ensure that this work is not just for people with economic and/or skin privilege
This work was made possible by the kind support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Thank you so much.
Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meeting Reports
2022 Milk Like Mine Community Health Grant Report
We are excited to share the 2022 Milk Like Mine Community Health Grant Report. We are beyond grateful to the Binda Foundation for their continued support and belief in the vision that Black, Indigenous and families of Color in Battle Creek deserve equitable, skilled and timely access to quality birth and breastfeeding support that reflects their ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
2022 MIBFN and Local Breastfeeding Supporter Fund Report
We are grateful to share the 2022 MIBFN and Local Breastfeeding Supporter Fund Report. As we close out this fiscal year and mark the end of the “MIBFN & Local Breastfeeding Supporter Fund” in its current form, we are committed to a bright future for each of the efforts established as part of this fund. We are so proud of these efforts, and we remain grateful to Michigan WIC for their investment in the movement for breastfeeding equity and justice.
FY 2021 Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meeting Report
FY 2020 Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meeting Report
Meeting Recaps:
- February 2024 Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meeting Report in February 2024
- 2022 August Breastfeeding Month Recap in August 2022
- Educating and Advocating with Legislators to Pass Breastfeeding-Supportive Policies in July 2022
- Cannabis and Breastfeeding in June 2022
- Raising Your Voice in Your Community for Systematic Change in May 2022
- Recalibrating the Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meetings in April 2022
- Resetting Expectations and Accountabilities for Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meetings in February 2022
- Birth and Breastfeeding Supporters Are Pushing Ahead for Systemic Change in January 2022
- December 2021 Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meeting Recap in December 2021
- The Work Continues As We Strive Towards Breastfeeding Justice in October 2021
- Providing Lactation Care in the Public Health, Health Care, and Hospital Systems in September 2021
- 2021 August Breastfeeding Awareness Month Recap in August 2021
- Centering Families in Birth and Breastfeeding Systems in July 2021
- Creating New Ways to Build Community in June 2021
- Investing in Local Breastfeeding Supporters in May 2021
- Showing Up to Support Families During COVID-19 in March 2021
- Dismantling Systemic Racism for Effective Breastfeeding Support in February 2021
- Mental Health and Breastfeeding in January 2021
- COVID-19 Birth and Breastfeeding Justice and Serving Incarcerated Families in December 2020
- COVID-19 Community Updates in November 2020
- Community Building in October 2020
- Education in September 2020
- Solidarity in Breastfeeding Advocacy and Birth Justice in August 2020
- Breastfeeding Advocacy in July 2020
- August 2020 Breastfeeding Awareness in May and June 2020
- Breastfeeding and COVID-19 in April and May 2020
2020 Community Conversation Reports
In 2020, we were able to collaborate with Southeast Michigan IBCLCs of Color in Detroit; YOLO Breastfeeding in Flint; Milk Like Mine in Battle Creek; and SHINE Breastfeeding Club in Benton Harbor and held Community Conversations in these four communities.
In gratitude for the families who shared so much of their time and expertise, and in our commitment to investing locally in every aspect of our efforts, each family received a well-made meal from a local, Black-owned catering company, to share with their family members and sustain them throughout the day.
One outcome of these crucial conversations was the creation of an equity-focused, community-driven report. Most importantly, they are for use by the people and organizations who worked together to create them and will support their efforts in shifting the paradigms of leadership and breastfeeding support services where they live and work. We are so honored that the families generously shared their permission with MIBFN to use and publish these reports.
2020 Reports:
Education Reports
2022 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars Annual Report
We are grateful to have the opportunity to share the 2022 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars Annual Report with you. The 2022 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars reached more participants and provided more continuing education certificates compared to any past year. Throughout the year, original on-demand webinars enabled participants to earn free continuing education for seven distinct health professions, making it easier to maintain/renew credentials when they may have otherwise been unable to, especially in light of financial, travel, and COVID-related restrictions during the past three years. The webinars amplified the voices of Black and Indigenous presenters on topical issues of lactation through an equity lens with the goal of diversifying the field of lactation. We are grateful to offer the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars free of charge to participants as part of our partnership with Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health and Wellness with support provided by Ohio Department of Health, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Indiana Department of Public Health, Illinois Department of Public Health, Minnesota Department of Health, Connecticut Department of Public Health WIC Program and Connecticut State Physical Activity and Nutrition Program, and Tyler Rigg Foundation.
2022 Breastfeeding Education in Solidarity with BIPOC Families Report
The 2022 Breastfeeding Education in solidarity with BIPOC Families Report is now available. The goal of this project was to create and share educational resources developed by community-rooted and clinically skilled Black and Indigenous lactation supporters for Black and Indigenous families. Huge thanks to the members of the MIBFN Core Cohort for your time, passion, and expertise in developing these life-saving tools. And, thanks to MDHHS for financially supporting these efforts.
2021 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars Annual Report
The 2021 Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars Annual Report is available now. Our education efforts are informed by listening and learning how to better meet the needs of learners, presenters, and sponsoring partners on the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars. Based on this, in 2021, we were committed to increasing accessibility, expanding continuing education offerings, along with providing consistent and free access to equity-focused education each month. We are grateful to offer the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars free of charge to participants as part of our partnership with Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health and Wellness with support provided by Ohio Department of Health, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Illinois Department of Public Health, Minnesota Department of Health, Connecticut Department of Public Health WIC Division, and Tyler Rigg Foundation.
To view the monthly Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars reports, click here and navigate to the “Webinar Reports” tab.