HealthConnect One

HealthConnect One facilitates the creation of Black, Brown, and Indigenous community designed vision and standards for support in pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and early parenting.

Through our process community members are prepared to support perinatal health needs in their communities as community-based doulas, peer lactation counselors, and perinatal community health workers.

Our process includes work with communities to ensure sustainable funding to pay community members to support the perinatal needs in their communities, through local funders, healthcare systems, and payors.

Our process involves advocacy for birth justice, fair pay for birth workers, and family-centered legislation with Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

Our programs have 5 essential components:

1. Employ trusted members of the target community
2. Extend and intensify the role of community-based doula/peer lactation counselor/peer community health worker with families from early pregnancy through the first months postpartum
3. Collaborate with impacted community members /institutions and use a diverse team approach
4. Facilitate experiential learning using popular education techniques and the HealthConnect One training curriculum
5. Value the community-based doula/peer lactation counselor/peer community health worker with salary, supervision, and support

Our organization has 30+ years of experience with underserved Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities across the nation where we have co-designed tools for community-based doulas and peer lactation counselors. We designed the first community-based doula model, which has been replicated across the nation. We have partnered across more than 50 communities in 20 states to design peer-to- peer support programs which increase breastfeeding rates, strengthen parent-child bonding, expand support for mothers and families, reduce C-section rates and achieve better birth outcomes while generating local jobs and leveraging resources.

Our work leads to strong birth and breastfeeding outcomes in a variety of settings, such as:

Community Clinics
Federal, state, and local government agencies
Federally Qualified Health Centers
Foundations
Grassroots organizations
Home Visiting Programs
Hospitals
Social Service Centers
State agencies
Tribal Organizations

Our expertise is recognized locally, nationally, and internationally
Recognition includes being selected by WHO/UNICEF as a member of an Expert Panel developing international standards for breastfeeding training; serving on the Wisdom Council of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative as an Expert Panel Member for the United States, and consulting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of the Communities Putting Prevention to Work/Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.

HealthConnect One staff are leaders in the field of maternal and child health. For example, staff members currently serve as:

Board member, United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC)
Co-chair, National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW)
Board member, National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC)
Expert Panel Member, Food and Nutrition Service Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
A more detailed list is on individual staff members’ bio pages. Staff have worked closely with Illinois Department of Public Health staff helped to publish the Illinois Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Curriculum, and for more than two decades collaborated with Cook County Health and Hospital Services Stroger Hospital on a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program.

We are also proud to have helped establish the Illinois Community Health Worker Association.