Breastfeeding empowerment and practicing what we preach

At A Glance is a bi-weekly news recap highlighting WKKF grantees, investments, communities and partnerships.

Seven Michigan schools are banding together to find ways to increase the number of students of color who choose degrees in the health care field. With help from a $400,000 WKKF grant, action plans will be created to help reduce barriers and ensure people of color are represented in every health care occupation.

What does it mean to apply a racial equity lens to grantmaking? Make sure to check out this recent conversation with our President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron. She shares our history of racial equity and racial healing work with Matt Sinclair of PND. In this Q&A, Tabron shares insights and lessons from WKKF’s decades of related experience. 

For too long, Brooklyn mommas have faced more barriers to breastfeeding than other women. The lack of resources alongside limited education about its benefits play a large role in breastfeeding rates for women living in poverty. With a poverty rate nearly double the national average, women in Brooklyn face the need to return to work quickly and are most often unable to breastfeed at work. With assistance from WKKF, the Breastfeeding Empowerment Zone is working to strengthen community-level action, joint health plans and workforce development options.

You’ve heard the phrase “practice what you preach,” yes? In a report released this week from the Center for Effective Philanthropy, it was found that while “64% of nonprofit CEOs believe that in order to achieve their organization’s goals, it’s very or extremely important for their board to be diverse, only 22% believe their board is very or extremely diverse.” This report, Nonprofit Diversity Efforts: Current Practices and the Role of Foundations, provides data that is meant to encourage conversations about what is needed to ensure nonprofits and funders are meeting their diversity and organizational goals.