Development of Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Leaders

Description

Indiana is persistently ranked as one of the worst ten states for infant mortality. This problem is especially challenging for Indiana?s African American and rural communities. Despite increases in access to prenatal care, home visiting services, and other health initiatives, Indiana?s infant mortality rate has not decreased for over two decades. 29 (out of 988) Indiana zip codes account for approximately 30% of infant deaths. Our focus is to build the capacity of communities within these 29 zip codes by training and mentoring grassroots maternal and child health leaders (GMCHLs) from these communities. Building GMCHLs is an essential step in community capacity building and is critical to building a local culture that supports healthy pregnancies and families. Our efforts are meant to complement the existing maternal and child health assets and programs in these high-risk rural and urban communities. Working in partnership with local and state social agencies, we will recruit, train and mentor for three years, two community members from the aforementioned 29 zip codes. These GMCHLs will be trained in a curriculum that addresses leadership styles, causes and consequences of adverse birth outcomes, health equity, state priorities and principles of community engagement. In addition, each GMCHL will be trained in using Photovoice, storytelling, EvaluLEAD and policy development strategies . After completing this training, we will mentor and monitor each GMCHL for three years to help ensure their success in community development for maternal and child health. Products associated with each GMCHL?s Photovoice, storytelling, EvaluLEAD and policy development activities will be continually evaluated and analyzed by our team to study the impact of the leadership training and mentoring on local individuals, organizations and neighborhoods. In addition, each GMCHL will participate in structured interviews throughout the three-year period to study how their position and networking in their community has changed. Completing this curriculum and mentoring will provide these participants with the knowledge and skills to effectively produce sustainable, social change. Our approach to community leadership development and mentoring is based on community-organization theory, scientific evidence, and years of experience in communities across the USA and globally. Our approach provides a framework that is adaptable to the unique strengths and challenges of individual communities.

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