Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso
Photograph credit score: Workplace of Brooklyn Borough President
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso on Tuesday introduced the creation of a $50,000 “Group Child Bathe Fund” to help community-led child showers for Brooklyn’s new and anticipating mother and father.
Reynoso mentioned Brooklyn nonprofits internet hosting neighborhood child showers in Brooklyn can request as much as $5,000 in reimbursed funding from the Group Child Bathe Fund for non-personnel bills.
The borough president mentioned Black ladies in New York Metropolis are eight instances extra more likely to die of pregnancy-related problems than their White counterparts.
He mentioned this initiative is the most recent installment in his historic maternal well being agenda aimed toward addressing this “staggering disparity.”
“No Brooklynite ought to must expertise the fun and anxieties of being pregnant and parenthood alone, and neighborhood child showers supply a robust venue for neighbors to return collectively in celebration and in help of each other,” Reynoso mentioned. “It’s my honor to help the nonprofits who’re doing the work of caring for our neighbors and plugging the holes left by a long time of disinvestment in largely Black and Brown and low-income neighborhoods.
“By celebrating the thrilling journey of parenthood for brand spanking new mother and father and offering sources to lift our latest Brooklynites, we’re proving that we might help shut the gaps in maternal healthcare via neighborhood, celebration, and love – the Brooklyn manner,” he added.
Reynoso recalled that, in April, he hosted a “Brooklyn Group Child Bathe” for 100 new and anticipating moms.
He mentioned the day-long celebration came about at NYCHA’s Van Dyke Group Middle in Brownsville and was “chock-full of video games, arts & crafts, giveaways, and details about being pregnant and postpartum care.”
For the reason that starting of his administration, Reynoso mentioned he has superior an historic maternal well being agenda, giving the whole thing of his first-year capital funding to Brooklyn’s three public hospitals for maternal well being enhancements and launching quite a lot of initiatives, together with his Maternal Well being Taskforce, “Born in Brooklyn” child bins, and a multilingual, multimedia public well being training marketing campaign.
“Black ladies in New York Metropolis are about eight instances extra more likely to die of pregnancy-related problems than their White counterparts. It’s alarming, it’s unconscionable, and it’s a disaster that requires all-hands-on-deck,” Reynoso mentioned.
“I made a promise to do every little thing I can as borough president to make this borough the most secure place to have a child, and I’ve been so happy with Brooklyn for rallying round this trigger,” he added.
To be eligible for the Group Child Bathe Fund, Reynoso mentioned candidates should: Have a present 501(c)3 standing; be capable to match requested funding quantity by submitting an outline of the place matching funds are coming from, whether or not inside to the group, in-kind sponsorship, and so on.; have a historical past of service in at the very least one of many initiative’s goal neighborhoods; have a historical past of serving prenatal and postnatal/postpartum people and their households; have a historical past of planning neighborhood child showers or related useful resource occasions; and host their occasion between July 31, 2024 and Might 30, 2025.
Reynoso mentioned he’ll prioritize funding to candidates holding neighborhood child showers in neighborhoods with traditionally excessive maternal mortality and morbidity charges, together with: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Bushwick, Canarsie, Coney Island, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, East New York, Flatbush/Midwood and Sundown Park.
The Brooklyn Borough President mentioned purposes are accepted on a rolling foundation till funds are now not obtainable, and that submission of an software doesn’t assure funding.
The Group Child Bathe Fund request type is accessible at www.brooklynbp.nyc.gov/babyshowerfund/
