BREASTFEEDING TASK FORCE OF GREATER LOS ANGELES
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
There is less than a 50% chance to breastfeed exclusively in Los Angeles if the baby's mother is low-income and non-white. Increasing breastfeeding rates among low-income women and women of color is a key strategy for health improvement, food security, and prevention of pediatric obesity. Prenatal education and early follow-up are crucial to successful breastfeeding. Many hospitals do not offer sufficient postpartum breastfeeding support including accessible lactation clinics and community support groups. Women who encounter breastfeeding difficulties often never receive help, because they were not sufficiently educated or efficient services are not easily accessible. Hospitals alone are unable to meet the community's need for comprehensive perinatal breastfeeding support.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Education and Training for Health Care Professionals
BreastfeedLA provides technical assistance to hospitals working to achieve Baby-Friendly designation in part by co-leading the Regional Hospital Breastfeeding Consortiums (RHBC's) throughout the four regions of Los Angeles County. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program to recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother/baby bonding enabling more families to exclusively breastfeed, further closing the health disparities gap. Adherence to the Baby-Friendly Criteria decreases racial, ethnic, and socio-cultural disparities in breastfeeding rates in U.S. hospitals. RHBC meetings provide a forum for collaborative learning – bringing together public health officials, hospital administrators, and breastfeeding and quality improvement experts to create systems change and improve in-hospital breastfeeding policies and practices.
In the last five years, BreastfeedLA assisted and supported 35 of the 54 maternity hospitals in L.A. County to achieve Baby-Friendly designation, including the entire Kaiser system. Many of the remaining 24 hospitals continue to work toward designation. During this time, the initiation of in-hospital breastfeeding in Los Angeles County increased from 71% to 93.8%. In addition, exclusive breastfeeding increased from 33% to 60.2%.
Advocacy
Through funding provided by First 5 LA over the past five years, BreastfeedLA has provided technical assistance to employers to strengthen lactation accommodations policies, provide appropriate time and space for expressing breast milk, and administer training with policy and program implementation. In collaboration with community partners, BreastfeedLA visits legislators and state agencies to educate them on the importance of stronger paid family leave and lactation accommodations programs. BreastfeedLA partnered with ACLU of Southern California and California Women’s Law Center to create a baseline report about lactation support for women, both students and employees, in the education field. We partnered with the 81 L.A. County school districts to provide technical assistance by way of policy evaluation, and time and space assessments, resulting in significant lactation accommodations improvements in just one year since the initial report.
BreastfeedLA educates staff from the California Labor Commissioner and Department of Fair Employment and Housing office, California Department of Public Health, and Employment Development Department. We advocate for stronger lactation accommodations support to the Labor Commission. We provide trainings to employers and school districts using the existing federal evidence-based toolkit to support work environments where parents don’t have to choose between their children’s health and their paychecks.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of people trained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Infants and toddlers, Parents
Related Program
Education and Training for Health Care Professionals
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of training workshops
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Infants and toddlers, Activists
Related Program
Education and Training for Health Care Professionals
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of mothers reporting that they breast-feed their babies
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Infants and toddlers, Ethnic and racial groups, Pregnant people, Single parents, Adolescent parents
Related Program
Advocacy
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2019 is most currently available data from California Department of Public Health. We also break down the data further by race/ethnicity and place of birth. There were less births in 2019.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Goal #1: Close the in-hospital exclusive breast/chestfeeding equity gap by 5% over 5 years
Goal #2 – Increase breast/chestfeeding duration in LA County at 6 & 12 months by 5% over 5 years
Goal #3 - Ensure the financial and operational sustainability of the organization
Goal #4 - Build capacity of organizations and individuals who provide breast/chestfeeding support and services
nationally
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Goal #1: Close the in-hospital exclusive breast/chestfeeding equity gap by 5% over 5 years
Supporting Strategies:
1. Increase the number of prenatal outpatient settings that adopt the “Nine Steps to Successful
Breastfeeding” through education and technical assistance
2. Improve the immediate postpartum (in-hospital) exclusive breast/chestfeeding rates through education
and technical assistance
Goal #2 – Increase breast/chestfeeding duration in LA County at 6 & 12 months by 5% over 5 years
Supporting Strategies:
1. Ensure breast/chestfeeding is incorporated as an effective strategy in combating food insecurity and infant
mortality.
2. Advocate for policies, practices and environments that support breast/chestfeeding families
3. Increase family and community support for breast/chestfeeding
Goal #3 - Ensure the financial and operational sustainability of the organization
Supporting Strategies:
1. Secure and maintain long-term financial stability
2. Expand brand awareness of BFLA and its mission
3. Attract and retain competent, dedicated and diverse staff
4. Create and manage an effective volunteer program
5. Attract and maintain an engaged and diverse board of directors
Goal #4 - Build capacity of organizations and individuals who provide breast/chestfeeding support and services
nationally
Supporting Strategies:
1. Provide policy, organizational networking, resources, and technical assistance related to implementing and
sustaining breast/chestfeeding promotion and support efforts to hospitals and health care providers
2. Provide technical assistance related to implementing and sustaining breast/chestfeeding promotion and
support efforts to universities, schools and child care providers
3. Provide policy, administrative, organizational, and fiduciary support to breast/chestfeeding coalitions to
build their capacity to strengthen their infrastructure
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
BreastfeedLA has the support of 5 staff, 5 lactation professionals, 9 volunteer Board of Directors, and over 40 active volunteers. BreastfeedLA has in-kind support from 3 Regional Breastfeeding Liaisons and 3 Community Public Health Liaisons who have committed to this work. Key staff are experts in program planning and development, breastfeeding education, working with diverse and underserved populations, facilitation, and curriculum development. BreastfeedLA provides clinical expertise on breastfeeding education and policy change, and expertise related to policy, procedures, organizational change and identifying gaps and resources in evidence-based maternity practices.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In the last five years, BreastfeedLA assisted and supported 35 of the 54 maternity hospitals in L.A. County to achieve Baby-Friendly designation and improve infant feeding inequities. Many of the remaining 24 hospitals continue to work toward designation. During this time, the initiation of in-hospital breastfeeding in Los Angeles County increased from 71% to 93.8%. In addition, exclusive breastfeeding increased from 33% to 60.2%. BreastfeedLA is committed to inclusion, diversity, and equity as core values, embracing meaningful participation from diverse stakeholders and actively soliciting varied viewpoints. Our work is grounded in diversity, inclusion, and equity to facilitate our mission of commitment to protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding in the communities we serve. We continue to strive to lower the breastfeeding disparity gaps and raise up and support all women to reach their own breastfeeding goals.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
BREASTFEEDING TASK FORCE OF GREATER LOS ANGELES
Board of directorsas of 06/07/2023
Nakeisha Robinson
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/09/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.