COLUMBUS, Ohio — Monday evening, the nonprofit organization CelebrateOne accepted a resolution for its work with Black mothers during pregnancy and the first year with their babies.
The Columbus City Council also recognized this time as Black Maternal Health Week.
CelebrateOne leads initiatives in the community to prevent infant mortality in Franklin County. By investing in racial equity and addressing societal issues with health and social services, these Black women are making an impact. Danielle Tong, executive director of CelebrateOne, along with a few other members of the organization gathered to receive the resolution. Tong said this week is symbolic for so many reasons.
“As important as infant mortality is here in central Ohio. And it deserves all of the attention that it gets. Certainly, the topic that’s less spoken about is maternal mortality and specifically Black maternal mortality. So we know that Black women die in childbirth or related to pregnancy at almost three times the rate of white families,” said Danielle Tong.
Councilmember Shayla Favor sponsored this resolution and shared her passion during this week’s meeting.
“Any time that we have the opportunity to raise awareness, to talk about an issue that just unfortunately doesn’t get the type of attention that it needs, it makes me incredibly excited about continuing the conversation,” said Councilmember Shayla Favor.
Black Maternal Health Week Was established in 2018 by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance with the goal of raising awareness of the systemic disparities in prenatal care for Black mothers.
“As a Black mom, as a labor and delivery nurse, you know, I personally had wonderful pregnancies, healthy pregnancies, amazing birth stories. I have three wonderful children who are the light of my life. But unfortunately, what I also know is that almost every single Black woman that I’ve spoken to, that has experienced childbirth, pregnancy, anything, has a story,” said Jatu Boikai, the founder and director of MobiNurses.
“It’s said that for every maternal mortality, you have 100 near-misses. And that’s a lot of near-misses,” said Tong.
Black Maternal Health Week started April 11 and ends April 17.