Grantee: Open Arms Perinatal Services
Timeframe: July 2024 – June 2027 | Amount: $465,899.47
- Year 1: July 2024 – June 2025 | Amount: $105,899.47
- Year 2: July 2025 – June 2026 | Amount: $160,000
- Year 3: July 2026 – June 2027 | Amount: $200,000
Open Arms Perinatal Services offers culturally and linguistically matched lactation peer support to promote the initiation, duration, and continuation of breast/chest feeding among BIPOC communities in King County.
Open Arms recognizes racism as a public health crisis that contributes to disparities in maternal and infant health. In King County, Black, Indigenous, and other birthing people of color experience significantly higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, low birth weight, preterm birth, cesarean births, and barriers to sustaining breast/chest feeding than their white counterparts. Although breast/chest feeding protects against numerous short- and long-term health conditions, many families stop earlier than planned due to limited access to culturally responsive support, workplace barriers, and concerns about infant nutrition.
Open Arms Perinatal Services provides culturally and linguistically matched lactation peer support for Black/African American and Latine families while expanding mentorship and training opportunities for lactation peer counselors and birthworkers of color. Services begin during pregnancy and include weekly check-ins through the baby’s first eight weeks, with extended support available for families who choose to continue breast/chest feeding for six, nine, or 12 months. To date, all participants who have completed the program have reported successful progress toward their lactation goals.
The program continues to achieve strong outcomes, with a six-month breast/chest feeding rate of 74.2%, compared with the Washington State average of 66.5%. During Year 2, Open Arms completed a prenatal lactation curriculum for the Latine community, translated it into Spanish, and adapted it using feedback from community listening sessions and providers. The curriculum is now being used to train a new cohort of Spanish-speaking birthworkers and lactation providers to become certified lactation support peer counselors.
In response to changing immigration policies, increased enforcement, and misinformation affecting immigrant communities, Open Arms strengthened safety protocols and expanded virtual services, including a Virtual Lactation Lounge, to ensure families could continue accessing support.
In Year 3, Open Arms will continue providing culturally and linguistically matched lactation peer support, with a focus on intensive short-term services for Black/African American and Latine families while offering extended support for families with greater needs. The project will also expand clinical lactation support and continue developing the Community Lactation Specialist Pathway, which provides free training, mentorship, clinical experience, and scholarship support for BIPOC doulas, lactation peer counselors, and community health workers pursuing International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) certification. Participants will also receive professional development through the Lactation Unlocked Conference to strengthen clinical skills and support certification.
ABOUT OUR GRANTEE
“Since 1997, Open Arms has provided community-based support during pregnancy, birth, and early parenting to nurture strong foundations to last a lifetime. Through doula care, childbirth education, lactation counseling, and new parent support, we help birthing families achieve important milestones, strengthen parent-baby bonding, and boost long-term parenting skills.
We are the first organization of our kind in Washington State and were founded by a small group of community members who envisioned a future where no one would have to give birth without support. Imagining a world that cherishes birthing people, their babies, families, and communities, our founders created one of the first nonprofit organizations that provide free community-based and culturally-responsive doula services. Since then Open Arms has grown in size and services and has also supported the startup of other organizations to serve their communities.”
