Healthy Start Coalition Receives $30,000 Grant from the Bank of America Client Foundation to support Save My Life Program
Sarasota, FL – The Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County, Inc. was recently awarded a $30,000 grant from the Bank of America Client Foundation’s Frederic W. and Margaret D. Kurtz Fund to continue their work reducing Racial Disparities during pregnancy and after birth via the Save My Life Program.
Created in 2006 in response to the alarming racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes, the Save My Life Program was designed to address the significantly higher rates of fetal and infant death experience among the African-American community. The Save My Life Program offers culturally relevant education about a variety of health and pregnancy related topics on a one-to-one or small group basis. The Program provides the tools and information women need to have healthy pregnancies, healthy children, and become healthy themselves.
Free classes are available at various locations throughout the Newtown and North Sarasota areas and cover topics such as childbirth education, breastfeeding, nutrition, safe sleep, preconception and interconception health, smoking cessation, and more. Save My Life also offers free one-on-one breastfeeding support after the birth of the baby, increasing the likelihood that nursing will continue allowing babies to get the right balance of nutrients, immune protection, and bonding to help them get a healthy start.
“The Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County is grateful to the Bank of America Client Foundation for the renewal of this grant,” says Executive Director, Shon Ewens. “The Save My Life Program is an essential part of the Newtown Community. Without this funding, we wouldn’t be able to ensure that these important services are available to moms and babies that need them.”
The Save My Life Program reaches about a hundred pregnant women, new mothers, and women of childbearing age each year. For more information about the program and all of The Healthy Start Coalition’s services, please visit healthystartsarastoa.org.
Please call for more information, quotes, or client stories.
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